


the True Lives of the Fabulous Marauders

by PunkArsenic



Category: Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys (Album), Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fusion, Crossover, Gen, M/M, Multi, Nonbinary Character, Other, Trans Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-02
Updated: 2016-01-25
Packaged: 2018-04-18 17:00:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 31
Words: 37,827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4713602
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PunkArsenic/pseuds/PunkArsenic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Remus Lupin lives in Battery City, a near-perfect citizen. It has to be this way, for his safety, for the safety of his best friend Peter. When a gang of Killjoys crash into his life, however, it seems that there's another way. It's hardly safe, but holy shit is it fun.</p><p>The Marauders living as Killjoys in an AU of the album. Where magic is heavily involved in the Helium Wars and BL/ind outlaw it - while still using it for themselves in secret.</p><p>Updates every Monday.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Make Some Noise

**Author's Note:**

> disclaimer: I wrote all of this with no wifi and it's only based on the album, 'cause I can't afford to read the comic (if you know a bootleg hmu)
> 
> It's set in Britain and there's magic, so straight off the bat you can expect a lot of creative license and deviation from DD canon.
> 
> What with it being set in Britain (or more specifically London and thereabouts) the characters talk like folx over here talk, so like if you dont know a word then ask me, and also there is some overlap w aave. all i can really say abt that is that those words also in mle and have been here for bare time, its part of the dialect, its not jus picking up stuff from black twitter or nothing i promise.
> 
> CW for whole fic: death, violence, lots and lots of swearing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Every day was the same in Battery City; a peaceful monotony of greyscale. Remus Lupin was almost grateful for the one night a month he spent in complete agony - it shook it up a little. If it weren't for the drugs keeping him compliant, he may well have got himself killed before now, in some desperate grasp for excitement.
> 
> Remus and Peter run away to the Zones.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW for this chapter: drugs, some mild violence, police
> 
> just so were clear, peter uses it/its pronouns and remus presents feminine bc hes closeted

Every day was the same in Battery City; a peaceful monotony of greyscale. Remus Lupin was almost grateful for the one night a month he spent in complete agony - it shook it up a little. If it weren't for the drugs keeping him compliant, he may well have got himself killed before now, in some desperate grasp for excitement.

  Remus looked up from braiding his hair at the sound of clattering; Peter Pettigrew, his roommate, had spilt the milk and was now muttering curses as it tried its damnedest to mop up the muddle. Remus smiled sympathetically and knelt to help, "Ah, look, Pete, let me handle it. See, it's like this," he showed Peter, for the thousandth time, how to use the tea-towel.

   It sighed and sat back, wiping its brow, “Thank you, Ree.”

  Remus and Peter were similar in many ways; both were halfblood wix, both had moved to Battery City from far off cities, and both lived a life of closets and fear. Peter was, to Remus, nothing less than a sibling; he trusted it with his life. They had lived together a little more than a year now, after parents failed them both.

  As Remus made them both cereal - a bland and grey BL/ind brand - Peter chewed its thumb with its overlarge teeth, frowning. Remus watched it, pondering a moment, before he pushed hair from his eyes with a sigh, "You got laid off again?"

   "It weren't my fault!" Peter blubbered, standing up, "I swear, Ree! It were an accident, I-"

   "Hey, hey..." he pushed the bowl into its hands gently, "It's alright, Pete. We'll find something." He gripped its arm firmly, "You don't have to go back to your father. You never will. I've got you. Alright?"

   Peter's eyes scampered across Remus' face, searching for a trace of doubt or deceit. It took a deep breath and nodded. Remus smiled as it began eating the now soggy cereal.

 "Okay, well," Remus stepped back, giving up on his braid and wrestling his thick curls into a bun, "You can stay with me at the library. The Sloth Police can't say nothing if you're studying for your GCSEs." Remus chuckled when Peter groaned, "Oh, it's not that bad. I'll find you a good audiobook."

    He zipped up his coat and opened the door to their small, dingy flat, when looked back he found Peter curling up on the threadbare carpet. He sighed, "Look alive, sunshine, if we don't get there soon _I'll_ be laid off and all."

  Remus rolled his eyes, while Peter dragged its feet out the door, muttering about secure jobs and favouritism.

* * *

 

While Peter curled up behind the library desk, Remus went about his chores of stacking and organising books. He thanked God that today was a slow day, as he could hear Peter sniffling while it tried to wrap its head around the swirling and dancing digits of its maths textbook.

While Remus worked he began telling Peter stories he’d been told his entire life, both the ones that Peter knew from its own Catholic upbringing and other exclusively Jewish ones – today he told their joint favourite: David and the lions’ den. They both agreed, however, it was foolish to be that brave about certain things, and were glad that it was magic BL/ind had outlawed, not their God.

       Remus’ story-telling petered out as the building filled itself, and he passed Peter an audio set of Famous Five – one of the only audiobooks that had survived the purge, and they both knew it off by heart. Remus retired to the desk, eyeing the newcomers warily. There was something different about a gaggle of youth his own age gathered around a centric table; when they spoke they spoke louder than others, and there was a certain looseness about it – a breath of life. Remus swore he saw flashes of colour beneath grey coats and hats, but didn’t dare consider it.

       His eyes were drawn to one in particular, whose head bobbed above the others’ – tall. They held themselves differently, a certain grace of movement, a quiet caution. It was one of the few heart-stopping moments when Remus saw someone in public whose gender he could not place, and a hope gripped him that he’d found someone like himself. The air crackled when the stranger smiled, laughing at a joke told by another member of the gaggle. A chill hit Remus when the stranger turned to look directly at him, as if they had felt his stare. Their face was cold, unreadable, and he found himself frozen. They laughed again, tipping back their head, and Remus quickly turned away to look at Peter.

  The space behind the desk was empty save for a filing cabinet and some stacks of books. Remus released as string of quiet curses. They knelt, filtering through the stacks for a sign of fur or tail, whispering Peter’s name. When he sat up to try the cabinet he spotted Peter sat on the bench outside the window and sighed with relief. It was swallowing something – oh, fuck.

    Remus wheeled round, registered that the gaggle of youth had left noiselessly, and forgot himself. He vaulted the desk, sprinting from the building with his cane still inside. He ran past a Pig without thought, skidding to a halt before Peter, who squeaked.

       “What- what-” he coughed, drawing shallow breaths, “What do you think you’re doing?” he wheezed. Peter spluttered, staring into its hands, while Remus doubled over, “Why are you out here?” he asked.

       Peter shrugged, “Saw a butterfly.” Remus stared at it incredulously, “It were dead cool, honest! I- I’ve never seen so many colours! I’m sorry, Remus.”

       He sighed and sat down beside it, “And what was it you were swallowing?” Peter lowered its head and muttered, “ _Peter_ ,” there was warning in Remus’ voice.

  “Pills,” Peter muttered, shuffling in its seat, “Thought they’d make the words stay still.”

 “You already had yours this morning, where did you get those?”

 “Nicked ‘em off you.”

 Remus held his chin in his hands, trying to think back to the morning, had he taken his dose? He could never tell the difference, the effect seemed very weak to him. A breath test would be able to tell though, and then he’d be in trouble.

  “Excuse me, ma’am.” He looked up at the Pig standing over the pair of them. He could tell by his voice he was from upper Battery City; every Pig he’d ever met was from Uppers, and the residents of lower Battery City were wary of them all. “May I ask,” the Pig continued, hands on his holsters, “Why you were running?”

     Remus sat still, staring blankly, wracking his brain for an answer. Lying had always come to him surprisingly unnaturally, for someone with so many secrets.

   “I called her! Officer,” Peter piped up, “I- I thought I’d lost my ID.” The Pig raised an eyebrow.

  “Yes, and it turns out,” Remus added, rummaging through his bag, “That I have it right here.” He held up Peter’s ID card, which he kept on him for safety whenever possible.

  “And such a situation calls for a full on sprint, does it?” the Pig said, “I can’t help but notice, ma’am, that you were limping.”

  Remus nodded, “I may have overreacted a bit, and I forgot my cane in the library. I…”

 “She thought I was in trouble, that I needed my ID right away.” Peter clarified. Thank God for Peter Pettigrew.

  “What kind of trouble would you be in?” the Pig asked, “Because, you know, there’s been reports around here…”

   Remus and Peter exchanged glances, both at a loss. Peter began chewing its lip as the Pig retrieved something from his jacket, “Well, if I can just administer a breath test on you both, then if all’s well you can be on your way.”

  “Oh,” a new unseen voice chimed in, “That won’t be necessary.” A blur of colours passed before Remus’ eyes, and the Pig fell to the ground, and before him stood the stranger. Gone were the grey overcoats, replaces with reds and blues and leather, tattered and - Remus thought - utterly beautiful. A Killjoy.

   They flashed him a grin, eyes widening behind red goggles, “Look alive, sunshine!” More Killjoys bled into the scene from all angles, doing all that’s possible to shatter the peace of Town Centre. The stranger whirled around, holding their raygun in the air and yelling, “109 in the sky but the Pigs won't quit!”

  This line seemed to rile up the Killjoys, who began yelling and beating things with their rayguns - some even sent shots into the air.

  “I'll be your surgeon, your proctor, your helicopter. Pumpin' out the slaughtermatic sounds to keep you alive. A system failure for the masses, anti-matter for the master plan!”

  Sirens began to blare as the beating of the Killjoys took a rhythm, and Remus could hear the whirr of a S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W helicopter. The stranger grew only more ecstatic as they circled around in the centre of the square. People from the town even ran to join in, letting Killjoys smear their faces in pinks and greens.

 “Louder than God's revolver and twice as fucking shiny! This one's for all of you rock'n'rollers, All you Dust Angels and Ritalin Rats. Listen up!” They jumped up and down where they stood as searchlights found them, and held out their arms, as if soaking in the light, before pulling fingers to lips to whistle.

  “The future is bulletproof!” there was a roar, and a slender motorbike descended from the sky to land beside the stranger. A flying bike! Remus rubbed his eyes, wondering if this is what happened when you missed your dose.

  “The aftermath is secondary!” People were beginning to flee now, as Dracs and Exterminators descended upon them. Remus looked around for Peter but could find it nowhere. He cupped his hands to call out.

  “It’s time to do it now and do it loud!” Peter had run to the centre of the square, among all the noise and the chaos, right up to the stranger, waving and yelling frantically. Remus’ throat closed up as he sped after it, reaching for the scruff of its shirt.

 “Killjoys…” He skidded to a halt before the bike on which the stranger sat, and kept a firm grip on Peter as it begged the stranger to take it with them. Their eyes met his for a second, and they smiled, pulling them both up. “Make some noise!”

 They zoomed up, up, up, above the streetlights, above the buildings, above the whirr of S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W, stopping only at the clouds. Remus stared down into the shrinking city lights, and clung to the stranger for dear life.

 


	2. Disapparation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Ree…” Peter whispered, leaning forward and digging its fingers into Remus’ shoulders, “These people… they have magic!” its voice was high with excitement. 
> 
> Remus and Peter have been picked up by the Killjoys, and are fleeing Bat City, when they're attacked by exterminators.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW for episode: semi graphic fight

They drove - flew - beyond the reaches of the city, until the clouds petered out to blue skies and Remus felt sunlight sting his skin. Two figured joined them, whooping and cheering as they soared around on flying broomsticks. Remus stared with mouth hanging open; the last flying broomstick he’d seen had been his father’s - on fire.

  A fly flew into his mouth and he started coughing and spluttering, causing the first flyer to laugh. Remus only recognised them by the sharpness of their face and curve of their nose; the youth from the library who’d been telling all the jokes. They looked far more at home out here, on a broom, round goggles pressed to their eyes and a mess of green curls flying about everywhere.

  “Hey!” the second flyer shoved their goggled friend, and as they lifted their hood they handed Remus a flask, “Yeah, you wanna keep your mouth shut when you’re flying out here - think it was a Fly, Catcher?” They turned to the biker, tilting their head. Remus could still make out the order of Battery City under their bright colours. He drank, and returned the flask.

       The biker - Catcher? - shrugged, causing Remus to cling to them tighter, “I dunno, Chem, it’s dust now anyway. Eaten by our lil Rit-Rat here, innit.” They laughed, tossing their hair behind them, black with red ends, it brushed against Remus’ face and he ducked his head. Blues glowed against his face and he looked down to see a star system painted on the back of Catcher’s jacket, which twinkled and glowed in ways only magic could achieve.

  “Ree…” Peter whispered, leaning forward and digging its fingers into Remus’ shoulders, “These people… they have magic!” its voice was high with excitement. Remus nodded.

  “Oh!” Catcher turned their head, smiling at their passengers, “Where are our manners? I’m StarCatcher, big S big C no space, she/her if you _really_ must.”

   Remus and Peter exchanged glances, both grinning ecstatically, Peter began laughing.

  “Chemical Wonder,” Chem shoved a heavily ringed hand out to them, and Peter took it nervously. She shook its hand so vigorously she nearly yanked them both from the bike, “Friends call me Chem. They/them.”

   “Fam, chill, yeah?” goggles pulled up between Chem and the bike, shoving them away. They then turned to grin at the pair of them, “Golden Snitch, ze/zir. He/him if you gotta.”

  “Don’t be confused by the name,” Catcher added, “Snitch’s the most trustworthy fuckin’ Tumbleweed I’ve ever met. Ze’s named after-”

   “The magic bird! Incredibly fast, near impossible to catch, used in early games of Quidditch!” Remus said, “I know! My name’s-”

  “Whoaaa there baby,” Chem clapped their hand over Remus’ mouth, “You wanna give that bit a whole lotta thought first, yeah?”

   Snitch nodded, “It’s a new start, bruv. You gotta pick an alias and shit, gotta learn the rules of the Zones. ‘Getme?”

   Remus bunched up handfuls of Catcher’s shirt in his hands, stomach turning - he’d heard so many stories about the Zones, very few of them good. But these people were magic, they were like him, they were good! Right?

  “Um, excuse me, Golden Snitch?” Peter leant forward, having to yell over the roar of the bike and rush of the air, “I was wondering if you knew a woman called-”

 “Everybody!” The bike reared to a sudden halt, throwing Remus and Peter off balance. Remus risked letting go of Catcher with one hand to grab his friend by the scruff of its shirt, tugging it back onto the bike, “Shut the fuck up,” Catcher hissed.

    The group hovered in the air, Chem and Snitch gripping their brooms tighter and Chem pulled up their hood. Remus could hear a distant whirring. He felt Catcher take his hand and move it to the handle of the bike, holding it there firmly.

    A bolt of green light shot past Remus’ right side, narrowly missing his ear. Peter near choked the life out of him he gripped him so hard, yelling. Catcher whirled the bike around to face the source, “Fuckin’ Exterminators!”

   Many things happened at once then - Snitch and Chem parted, rushing in opposing directions, while Catcher veered the bike towards the ground, so fast Remus swore they were going to crash. The air was alive with the sound of gunfire now, and the BL/ind logo smiled down at Remus from the craft circling them.

  Catcher shot red rays in all directions, turning the bike this way and that, her hand never loosening on Remus’. Peter had buried its face into his neck. Snitch rushed past their right, shouting, “There’s fuckin’ five of ‘em! We’re overpowered!”

    As they hurtled towards the ground, and Peter screamed, and shots flew, Remus had one of his moments of forgetting himself. He shoved his hand into his bag and his fingers found what they were looking for in an instant, by instinct they found their grip in the curves of the wood. Remus pulled from his bag a wand, and when he aimed it at the craft he yelled something that caused it to burst into flames.

   The craft began hurtling towards the ground and the shooting stopped. The bike sped up with a jolt and Remus turned to see Catcher staring at him with wide eyes.

   “You have a _wand?!”_ Chem yelled, flying to their side. Blood was trickling down their face.

  “Do you know how to disapparate?” Snitch demanded, falling in line on the other side.

  Remus head turned back and forth, gripping his wand tightly, “I- I-” he stammered.

   Catcher groaned, “Snitch, take Chem and join the others. I’ll deal with this.”

    “Padfoot,” Snitch frowned, warning in zir tone.

   “I will deal with this!” Catcher yelled, _“Go!”_

     She sped past them and Remus turned behind him to see Snitch take hold of Chem, who collapsed into zir, and fly west. Catcher reached a hand to grab the wand and Remus pulled away, aiming it at her.

   She turned around, lifting her goggles, “I just need to touch it to get us out of here. I won’t take it from you,” She held Remus with a sombre stare, and Remus found himself trusting her every word, “I promise.”

   “W-what are you doing?” Peter said as Remus shoved his wand into Catcher’s hand.

  “Okay, hold on. Tight!”

 

 


	3. Doctor Ollivander

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Ah…” Ollivander sat down, putting on a foggy pair of glasses and leaning over the wand, “I know this one, I never forget a wand. Cypress, unicorn hair, pliable.” He peered at Remus over his glasses, “You are not its owner.”
> 
> Remus has one of the last wands in the entire country, and it needs protecting. So StarCatcher takes him to see someone who can help.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW: q slur (reclaimed), talk of mothers, talk of father death, semi graphic injury

Remus had experienced disapparition before, once, when he was very young. It was no less horrible this time - a feeling as if you were being sucked through a very narrow pipe, everything pressing into itself, suffocating him. He could feel Peter’s nails dig into his sides, feel Catcher’s hand touch his.

   Moments later they landed, bike and all, in the middle of a field where all the wheat had rotted away and all that was left was rocks and earth. As promised, Catcher let go of the wand, and Remus shoved it back into the depths of his bag.

   Peter fell off the bike, screaming, and blood stained the earth beneath it. Remus jumped from the bike and knelt beside his friend, making it turn over to see. Its entire left hand was gone, cut clean off. “Splinched! You splinched it!”

  Remus turned to Catcher, who bunched up her hair in her hands, “Fuck! I didn’t mean to, I ain’t used a wand for years! I’m so sorry!”

  “Don’t apologise, do something!” Remus yelled, pulling out his wand again and wracking his brain for healing spells.

  Catcher nodded and pulled out a phone. Remus ignored her as he muttered incantations, anything he could recall, while Peter prayed through its sobs. He didn’t know how much time had passed before strangers in white pulled Peter onto a floating stretcher. He held onto its bloodstained shirt, yelling in protest as they tried to take Peter away from him, until Catcher took hold of his arm and pulled him away.

   “Your friend’ll be okay, swear down,” She muttered into Remus’ ear, “That’s Pellet Popper; there’s no better healer this side of Lament.”

   Remus stood still, biting his tongue and watching Peter and the healers shrink into the distant. He noted that even though the healers had white or light blue scrubs, they were still undeniably Killjoys.

    Catcher leant against the bike, keeping a hand heavy on Remus’ shoulder, and waited for Remus to calm down.

     “Oh, um, your hair,” Catcher said. Remus’ hair had come loose from its bun in the chaos, and where it had once been elbow length it now fell to his shoulders and ended in a singed mess. He shrugged, wiping blood off his hands onto his skirt.

  Catcher shrugged, climbing onto the bike, “Welp, we better get in before we get in a clap with some Dracs or some shit. It’d be just our luck.” She turned to Remus, smiling, “Hop on, sunshine.”

   Remus hung back, inspecting Catcher. This was the first time he had really stopped to take her in; she was very tall, with a voice that overflowed with confidence and was fairly deep. The right sleeve of her jacket was ripped off to show a large tattoo of a black dog. She was perhaps seventeen, and there was something about her that he didn’t see in Snitch or Chem, something that felt like a trace of Battery City, but nothing like the Lowers Remus had known. “Where exactly is ‘in’?” He asked.

   Catcher laughed, that bark of a laugh that still made the air crackle, and pulled on her goggles, “Killjoy headquarters, home, the Burrow.”

   Remus fastened his bag shut and climbed on behind Catcher, wrapping his arms around her torso. She took off and flew them to a rundown barn at the edge of the field, landing inside. They both jumped from the bike, Catcher gave it a pat and it drove off by itself.

  Remus watched as Catcher pulled a phone and two pairs of headphones from her pockets, “Okay, the Burrow is _loud_ , and in your dosed up state you won’t be able to handle it.” Remus didn’t bother to mention he had missed his dose. Catcher pushed the phone into his hands, “Here, pick something.”

    He stared into the cracked and dusty screen at a list of music, but recognised none of it. He scrolled a little, trying to find something by a known artist, but since he didn’t like all BL/ind music, and all he listened to was the Romani folk music his father had salvaged for him, there was no luck.

  Catcher smiled, taking the phone back, “Don’t worry, I’ve got you.” She handed Remus a set of headphones, putting on the other, “I really think you’ll like this one, mate.” She took his hand, and pulled him down a trapdoor hidden behind haystacks as the music started.

    Remus had heard nothing like this before, the aggressive riffs, the shouting, the colour that erupted from every sound, it was enchanting.

    They twisted through narrow and dimly lit tunnels that were covered in graffiti and posters. Remus thought back to the photos his father had shown him of Camden Market before the Helium Wars. He had to run to keep up with Catcher’s long legs, but her grip was firm on his hand. Sometimes these tunnels opened into rooms full of people in bright colours, crowded around radios and screens, sprawled out on beaten up sofas, there was one room full of smoke that had a huge fan installed in one wall. Catcher yelled into the room and slammed the heavy metal door shut.

   As they moved, Remus started to pay more attention to the lyrics of the songs he was hearing, straining his ears to make them out. They spoke of gender and sexuality, of men loving men and people who had no gender, used words like ‘butch’ and ‘queer’ like badges of honour - he was familiar with hearing them only as covert insults whispered behind backs, now he was hearing them yelled at the top of someone’s lungs with the same feeling as ‘rockstar’ and ‘supermodel.’

   They slowed after turning down a tunnel that was darker and narrower than most, with less and less colour on the walls. Catcher took off her headphones.

  She looked back at Remus and frowned, “Oh, shit. Did you get hurt? Oh my days, I totally didn’t clock, I’m so-”

  “No, no no!” Remus pulled off his headphones, “It’s alright; I always walk like this. I had a cane, but I left it back at the…” He trailed off, the lull allowing him to feel the pain radiating from his thigh.

    Catcher smiled, walking beside Remus now, “We’ll find you a new one, and it’ll be twice as shiny - and literally shiny if you like!” Remus laughed, not letting go of Catcher’s hand. “Was it an injury?” Remus sighed. It was a rude question, really, and the answer was impossible to give. Why did he have to be so bad at lying? “Splinching?”

    Thank God. “Yeah,” Remus nodded, “Splinching. I don’t disapparate much, never learnt how.”

   Catcher shrugged, “Neither did I, really. ‘Just something you gotta know these days, for emergencies.” She stopped, releasing Remus’ hand to knock on a door with peeling olive paint. She leant against the wall, and Remus did the same, and they faced each other. “Did you learn all you know from books then? Doesn’t sound like you got any kinda healer about - so, no adult wix at all.”

    Remus shook his head, “My father taught me a lot, and left me some books, but the Purge… And my mother’s a muggle.”

   “Oh. Where is she? Is she gonna miss you?”

  Remus shrugged, “Ehhh. We- She’s… We didn’t see eye to eye in the end.”

  “Hey,” Catcher patted him on the shoulder, “Fuck mums, eh?” She smiled at him, and he smiled back.

 The door opened slowly, creaking on its hinges, and a tall grey person stepped out, “You knocked?” They said.

  Catcher whirled around, “Oh, yeah! Sunshine,” she pointed at Remus, “Ollivander,” the old Killjoy nodded at him politely, “Ollivander, Sunshine. That’s not their alias or nothin’, by the way.” She shoved herself into the room, “Boy have we got a treat for you, doc!”

  Ollivander raised their eyebrows and followed Catcher, and Remus followed them, shutting the door behind him. “They had to break this guy out, Sunshine,” Catcher said as she walked about the room, eyes brushing over shelves of knick-knacks and books, “Out of some next max prison type thing. Didn’t wanna kill ‘im, didn’t want ‘im runnin’ around. Guess who he was.”

  Remus drunk in the room with wide eyes; it was dark, and shelves lined the walls in entirety, full of magical items and books on all areas of magic – the air even smelt of magic. “He’s the wandmaker of Diagon Alley. Or… was. I remember. He was taken away before the Purge.”

   Catcher turned to him, smiling proudly, and nodded, “Yeah! Show ‘im, show ‘im!”

  Remus hesitated a moment before pulling the wand from his bag, putting it down on the worn-out desk. He did not take his hand away.

   “Ah…” Ollivander sat down, putting on a foggy pair of glasses and leaning over the wand, “I know this one, I never forget a wand. Cypress, unicorn hair, pliable.” He peered at Remus over his glasses, “You are not its owner.”

  “I am!” Remus puffed out his chest, “I won it! In a duel. When I was eleven.”

 “What?!” Catcher laughed, knocking over the book she was playing with, “Eleven?” Remus couldn’t tell if she was mocking him, or just astonished.

   “Yeah. He went easy on me. It was, like, a rite of passage. I couldn’t get my own wand because you’d been taken away, sir.”

   Ollivander waved a bony hand, “No need for ‘sir,’ child. Do you mean to say you won this wand from your father… without a wand?”

  Catcher stepped forward, leaning on the desk, and Remus stepped back, holding the wand to his chest, “He went easy on me. He’d been training me in wandless magic. It’s not that weird.”

   “No, of course not!” Catcher smiled at him, and he felt his tight shoulders loosen, “Everyone here uses wandless magic! Well, nearly everyone. It’s just, you won a wand in a duel with an adult wix, so either he was shite, or you’re something else entirely.”

  Remus scowled, “He was great! _He went easy on me_ , how many times do I have to say it?”

   “Either way,” Ollivander pushed up his glasses, “That wand you have there is one of the last in the country. It’s very valuable, many would kill to have it, or to destroy it.” Remus crept backwards towards the door, gripping the wand tight enough to whiten his knuckles. “May I look after it?” Ollivander asked.

   “No way!” Remus shouted, before collecting himself, “I’m sorry, sir, but this is my father’s wand. This is my wand! It won’t even work for anyone but me. I… I can’t-”

 “I agree entirely!” Catcher sidled towards him, pulling what looked like a raygun from a shelf. Remus felt around in the dark for the door-handle, “That wand is a part of you, it can never leave you,” She stopped and pulled the gun apart to reveal a hollow inside.

 Remus froze, staring at her, utterly perplexed. She smiled, “Hide it in here, Sunshine. You can use it then, and it’ll just look like a regular zap.” She held the two halves of gun case out to him, “Go on, take it!”

   Remus took the case, holding it at a distance, suspicious. He tried putting the wand inside it and found it fit perfectly. He closed the case, and it snapped into place.

  “Try a light charm, Sunshine.” Catcher nudged him encouragingly. Remus held up the ‘gun,’ holding it like he’d hold a real one, and whispered _lumos_.

  The room filled with light, illuminating Catcher’s face beside him. She grinned, flapping her hands, “Fuckin’ shiny! Look at it, doc! So fuckin’ _sik!”_

   Remus laughed, then muttered nox. He had to blink in the darkness to make out the dimly lit figures of Catcher and Ollivander. Catcher clapped him on the back and opened the door, “Okay, laters doc O, I’m gonna help Sunshine here settle in.”

  Catcher swung her arm around him and walked him back down the tunnel, and as they walked Remus hugged the case to his chest, and for the first time, deep below the ground in this small, dark space, with Catcher beside him, he felt excited as well as scared.


	4. Ignition Underdog and the Petrol Pest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chem laughed, “Moonshine and StarCatcher!”  
>  “Superhero duo extraordinaire!” Snitch added.  
>  “Oh, no, it’d definitely be StarCatcher and Moonshine.” Catcher said.
> 
> Remus and Peter get rid of their drab Bat City clothes, and take up new aliases.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW: mother death talk, abusive father implied

They stopped at one of the many rooms full of beaten up furniture, and Catcher threw herself onto a red sofa which must be enchanted, because any normal sofa that beat up would collapse instantly. She tugged off her headphones, “We’ll wait here for your friend, Chem and Snitch’ll be sure to meet us here. Then we can get you out of… those,” She gestured to Remus’ monochromatic outfit.

   He had no complaint; the skirt had always been awful, and the heavy fabric was getting unbearable in the heat of the Burrow. He shoved Catcher’s legs aside and sat down beside her, “Sounds good to me.”

    Catcher laughed and crossed her legs over Remus’ lap, “Hey, this is my sofa, get your own!”

  “Well I can’t now! I’m trapped by your big muddy boots!”

  “Oh, you do not want me to take off these boots, trust me,” Catcher shook her head, smirking.

   They fell into a silence that flickered between comfortable and uncomfortable, and Remus sank into his seat and listened to the rumble of loud music from a few rooms away.

   “You’re different from other Rit-Rats I’ve met, y’know,” Catcher said, tilting her head as she watched Remus, “You’re… you’re like one of us! Plus, your accent is well weird. Where you from?”

   Remus smiled, “Wales, originally. After the Purge we moved to London - I mean, Battery City - for safety reasons.”

  Catcher snorted, “Many places safer than Bat City, fam.”

   “Yeah, well, I was twelve, weren’t I? It was my ma’s ideas.”

  “Ugh!” Catcher lolled her head back against the arm of the sofa, “Your mum gets worse and worse the more I hear about her!”

  “She’s actually very nice!” Remus sat up, feeling defensive, “Sometimes ill-informed and often behind the times, but very very nice!”

  “Good and nice. Different things.”

  “Well then I s’pose you’re good, not nice.”

 “Oh fuck, I hope so!” She lifted her head, smiling at Remus, “But yeah, it ain’t just that. Like, I dunno much about Wales and that but you still call Bat City London, like what the fuck? And usually when we pick up Rit-Rats they can barely talk to us, they’re all like… Robotic, swear down.”

     “You do know that ‘Ritalin Rats’ are only those dependent on the BL/ind medication, right?” Remus frowned at her.

   “Bah, you’re all Rit-Rats to us, bruv, you can’t live in the city without a dose, and you can’t live with the dose. We have to give you all like a week to ween off it.” She folded her arms, and Remus did the same, and she laughed.

   "Hey, Padfoot, over here!" Remus whirled around at the familiar voice. Snitch, Chem, and Peter had entered through a different door, and it was still whimpering.

  Remus shoved Catcher aside, vaulting the sofa and stumbling to its side, "Hey, you alright?" He held Peter by the shoulders.

   Peter shook its head, "She's dead, Remus." Its voice was so quiet Remus had to lean closer, "She's dust."

    He stared at it, unsure what to do. He knew that Peter had always dreamt of running away to the Killjoys to join his mother, who'd been whisked away a year after the Purge. He had always wondered what kind of woman left their child with a man like Mr. Pettigrew, and had never thought very highly of her, but now...

   "I'm so sorry, Pet. I know how much she meant to you." He patted its shoulder and it nodded,

  "Her name was Cellophane Menace. That's... that's such a great name!"

   "Hey, kid," Snitch nudged Peter, "Show your friend your new hand. It's some next shiny thing, trust."

  Peter held up his left hand, forcing a weak smile. Where had once been chubby pink flesh was now a heavy mechanical hand. It was definitely not literally shiny. The fingers flexed and wiggled and Peter gave a weak laugh, "Can't bite them now, huh?"

  Remus laughed, watching in amazement, "That is definitely awesome, mate. It's... it's shiny!"

   "Aw, look at Sunshine picking up the linguo," Catcher said, sidling over, "C'mon, let's get you two some real clothes."

   "And names!" Snitch added.

   "Oh Merlin, good! I hate having to call them Runaway one, two, three, et cetera," Chem groaned. Remus stared at them, they seemed to have been bleeding a lot back in the Zones, but it didn't show now, not even a bruise. Magic, clearly. _Fuckin' shiny_ , he thought.

  The group led them through the tunnel Peter had emerged from, and Remus realised Catcher had forgotten the headphones when they passed a room with very, very loud music. He winced, and watched as Peter and Catcher blocked their ears.

 Snitch laughed and leant close to Remus, "Catcher's not never been able to handle the noise, not in all her years here! Her poor wittle sensitive- OW!" Catcher had kicked zir in the shin. Chem laughed.

   The tunnel opened out to a large room filled with metal racks that sagged under the weight of jackets and jeans and God only knew what else. In the space before them a child of maybe fourteen sat atop a precarious pile of boots so high that the child's head brushed against the ceiling.

   "Whey, wotcher four-eyes!" They said, sliding down the pile and grinning at Snitch. They were small - smaller than Peter, even - with bright pink hair that was short and stuck up all around, and a very big nose with a bump in it.

   "What you sayin', Boggart?" Snitch shoved them, "Newbies, this is Calamity Kid, my little sister from another mister. And missus. He/him."

  "How come they didn't come in with the rest of the haul?" Calamity Kid asked.

   "There was... complications," Catcher shrugged, "Alright, Cal, talk 'em through it."

   Cal grinned at Peter and Remus, "You noticed we all got weird names, yeah? They ain't our _names_. A name is a Killjoy's best kept secret, known by only your family and..." he nodded to Chem and Snitch, who had their arms around each other, "If someone knows your name, there's a lifelong loyalty and a fuck tonne of trust there. So! Pick an alias, make it a good one!"

    He started walking through the small pathways between racks, gesturing for Peter and Remus to follow, "Here's where you get clothes, obviously. You don't have to settle for your first outfit, don't worry. StarCatcher had like the absolute _worst_ first- HEY!" Catcher had thrown a small shoe past his head. He jumped up, throwing a balled up shirt back, "That coulda hit me, you twat!"

  "My aim is impeccable, Kid. If I wanted to hit you, you’d be hit. Now get on with it."

   Cal rolled his eyes, "So yeah, just... pick what takes your fancy or whatever. Small stuff's mostly over there, big stuff's vaguely that way, there is literally no order to this chaos. Scavenge." He scrambled over the racks back to his shoe pile, leaving them to it.

    Remus and Peter exchanged glances, before running off into the maze of clothing.

* * *

 

   They ran in opposing directions, being of greatly different builds, and Remus quickly collected an armful of prospective fashion choices. He was digging through a pile of belts and bandannas when he heard Catcher’s voice from across the room.

  “Oh my days, Cal, you forgot to tell them about pronouns!”

  “ _You_ tell ‘em about pronouns, then!” Cal snapped.

 “Oh! We know our pronouns!” Remus could hear Peter say, “I’m it, and Re- my friend is he!”

  “Wait, yous like… yous ain’t cis?” Cal stumbled over his words as if he the thought was ridiculous.

 Remus dug his head from the pile, “There are trans people in Bat City, Cal!” He called.

 Catcher laughed, “Ha! Yeah _Cal_ , you got told!” Remus smiled to himself, a lightness filling his stomach. He shook it off and kept on rummaging.

   His eyes widened eagerly as they fell on a cane lodged among the toot. He tugged it out, testing it out. It had a red acrylic handle that sparkled and glittered, and the end was studded as if it had been used as a weapon in the past. Convenient, Remus supposed, for a tight situation. There was something tied around the handle and he untied it, holding it up to the light. It was a blue bandanna patterned with a nebula, and when Remus watched it closely it seemed to glimmer and move. He remembered the magical painting on the back of StarCatcher’s jacket, and tied the bandanna around his neck.

    He picked up a belt with a sturdy looking holster and fastened it around his waist, then remembered how Catcher wore hers and loosened it so it rested loosely around his hips. The gun case that hid his wand fit the holster perfectly. He smiled.

   He wandered around for a while, collecting things from racks here and there, and found Peter again, also carrying a large pile of clothes. They looked about themselves.

  “Um, Ms Calamity?” Peter said.

 “You _what?_ ” Snitch fell apart laughing, until there was a sound that was undeniably Cal throwing a heavy shoe at zir head. These people were so violent, Remus thought.

  “Just Cal is fine, babes,” Cal called, “What is it?”

  “Uh… where are the changing rooms?”

  “Well, considering we can’t actually see you right now, anywhere you fancy.”

 Peter frowned at Remus, who sighed and shrugged, walking off to find somewhere private.

  As he changed, throwing away things he didn’t like and trying on this and that, the others talked.

  “Oi, I’m gonna turn on the radio, speak now or forever hold your peace,” Cal said.

  “No! No, please!” Catcher whined, “At least not loud!”

  “Oh, come on, Catchy, you know the Killjoys independent radio is like 50% Dr. Death Defying talking.”

  “Yes! That is exactly the problem!”

  “Didn’t you nick one of his speeches on the raid today, though?” Cal asked.

  “Yeah! She totally did!” Snitch laughed, “Like, she hates him, and then she goes and does that?”

   “He stole from me, I’m just evening the score.”

 “Weeell…”

  “Hey, Sunshine, you thought of a name yet?” Catcher called out, changing the subject.

  “Uhh…” Remus had been wracking his brain for an idea for the past half hour, but had nothing good. It didn’t help that he was currently focused on a wrestling match with a pair of skinny jeans. “I-” He yelped as he lost his footing and fell over, hitting his head against a rack.

  “Sunshine? You alright?”

 Remus opened his eyes to find a pendant swinging in front of his face where he was tangled up beneath a rack, it was a plastic disk about the size of a galleon - if he remembered galleons correctly - and depicted the moon. Remus smiled, “Uh, moon.”

  “What?”

 “Moon something. Something to do with the moon. For my name.”

 Chem laughed, “Moonshine and StarCatcher!”

  “Superhero duo extraordinaire!” Snitch added.

 “Oh, no, it’d definitely be StarCatcher and Moonshine.” Catcher said.

 Remus scrambled to his feet, pulling the pendant from its lodging, “I dunno if I like ‘Moonshine’...”

        “Well then,” Catcher leant over the rack beside Remus, folding her arms and smiling down at him, “What do you like?”

       Remus hastily shoved up his jeans, frowning with thought. He looked around, and his eyes fell on Catcher’s tattoo, “Underdog,” he said, “I like the name Underdog.”

    “Moon Underdog? Underdog Moon? I dunno, bruv, sounds kinda…”

  “No no no! I think- uh-” Remus paused for thought, then nodded, “I think ‘Ignition Underdog’ sounds good.”

        Catcher laughed, pointing at him, “Now that is a Killjoy name.” Remus smiled up at her and she winked at him.

* * *

 

A while later Remus and Peter emerged from the clothing maze, outfits fully chosen. Remus looked over to Peter - its outfit was fairly dark and drab; baggy blue jeans, a black beanie, grey goggles, and a grey vest. The only colour on it was the back of the vest, which had been painted green with the Killjoy Widow stenciled over it. It announced itself as Petrol Pest, and smiled.

   Remus had found a pile of binders, in which he found one that fit him perfectly, and over it he put a deep red smock. The pride of his find was a grey jacket that was much too large for him and spattered with paint all over. It hid his curves, and he filled the pockets with patches he could sew on later. The moon pendant hung proudly around his neck, coupled with the Magen David he’d removed from the delicate chain he kept it on. They fit over each other perfectly.

    “Hey, gi’us a twirl, Iggy,” Catcher smirked at him and he gave her a look as if her head had just turned green, which got a laugh from the others.

   “Nah, don’t twirl, Underdog, Catcher’s just messing with you,” Chem smiled and started walking, pulling Catcher and Snitch by the arms, “C’mon, let’s get them something to eat!” They threw Remus and Petrol Pest a kind smile, and the pair followed them through the tunnels.

 


	5. Early Days in the Zones

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Remus learnt many things in this time; he learnt all the theory of apparition, and spells he had never heard of, and many things about Killjoy culture. He also learnt that Chemical Wonder earnt their name because they were adept at both chemistry and potions, and that Golden Snitch was in fact a chaser, and that Calamity Kid could change his appearance at will and changed pronouns too now and then.
> 
> Remus and Petrol Pest find their feet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW heights, medical, drugs mentions

A week passed, and Remus slipped into a routine amongst the chaos of the Burrow. He and Peter - no, no, it was Pest now - shared a small room where they were allowed to do whatever they wanted with the walls. Remus relished in drawing sigils and runes all over it, making up his own along with those he remembered.

   He had a week or two without duties of any kind, to ‘flush out the Rat Poison’ as Catcher had put it. He often passed Catcher, in the tunnels, on the surface, they sat together at meals often and she had taken to tugging at Remus’ bandana whenever she passed him. It was good, it was fun. He still found himself stopping to watch her now and then; there was a familiarity to her, something buried deep beneath, and he couldn’t understand it.

   Her eyes were monolids, perhaps she was related to a BL/ind official? There were lots of people that looked like her in the Uppers and Dog Island, but Remus never interacted with people from those areas, and they never gave people like Remus the time of day. Maybe it was just a coincidence.

   He had come close to dropping it entirely when Catcher found him one day in the Burrow’s small library, which Remus often frequented for obvious reasons. Catcher received strange looks, and Remus was sure she wasn’t here often, and must have sought him out.

   She shoved him aside and squished into the bean-bag beside Remus, flashing him a smile. She was always so physical with everyone, he tried to pretend it didn’t bother him, but he had sworn he’d seen her kissing Snitch many times and it confused him, “What you sayin’?”

    Remus frowned, then nodded; the term still caught him off-guard, because it meant ‘how are you’ not ‘what are you saying.’ “I’m reading, of course.” Remus closed his book and hugged it to himself, looking at Catcher.

    Catcher pulled a face, “Dead! What you reading?”

    “It’s about disapparition,” Remus said.

  “Less dead! Well, anyways, I needed to talk to you about something.” She propped herself up on her hand, leaning back in the beanbag.

    Remus felt his chest tighten and shuffled around to see Catcher better, “Uh, okay, shoot.”

   “I need you to stop trying to figure out who I am,” she said it with little of her usual light-heartedness, her face stony. Remus felt her light eyes burning into him, even when he didn’t meet them (he never met people’s eyes if he could help it.)

    “What? I- I’m not-”

  Catcher sighed, “Look, don’t bother denying it, I’m not angry with you. But, well, you know the name rules. If you figure out my name without consent,” She frowned, “I dunno, that’d just really be a shame. Plus, uh, you’ve seen Bat City. You’ve seen the people there, how they’re not themselves…” Remus sat up, watching her. She turned to stare at her knees, fingers tapping on them - they were bitten, like Peter’s - “I’m not who I was there, I don’t ever want to be connected to that place, those people.”

   They sat for a second in silence, then Remus surprised himself and put his hand on Catcher’s knee, “I understand. It’s okay, I have no idea who you are anyway.”

    Catcher turned to her and smiled, then shuffled up, throwing an arm around Remus, “Okay, let’s see this book on disapparition. Maybe I can learn a thing or two!”

* * *

 

Remus learnt many things in this time; he learnt all the theory of apparition, and spells he had never heard of, and many things about Killjoy culture. He also learnt that Chemical Wonder earnt their name because they were adept at both chemistry and potions, and that Golden Snitch was in fact a chaser, and that Calamity Kid could change his appearance at will and changed pronouns too now and then.

  “Like, when I was thirteen,” he explained over breakfast once, tucked away in a quiet corner with Remus and Pest, “They tried putting me through spy training, innit? I was great!” He smirked, “‘Til I opened my mouth, or got near anything that could break,” He shrugged, stretching his mouth to fill it with a stack of toast, talking with his mouth full, “So dey shov’d me down in wa’obe, which suits me jus’ fuckin’ fine!” He swallowed and grinned.

  Remus laughed, eyes trailing to Cal’s nose - he knew it was a stereotype, but Cal made such a point of it, he couldn’t help himself, “Hey, Cal, I was wondering… No chance you’re Jewish?”

  Cal shrugged and shook his head, “Pakistani Muslim, fam. Well, my mum’s Chinese, but yeah. I don’t, like, naturally look like this? I mimic their both best features to show pride in my heritage and say ‘fuck you’ to Eurocentric beauty standards.”

  Remus laughed. This kid never ceased to amaze him, and he couldn’t believe he was only fourteen. He’d been told Cal had been a Killjoy since very young, and his father was one of the hardest and most well respected Killjoys this side of Lament (which is where he’d come from, apparently. Remus was sure every Lamenter was made of pure steel, from the stories he’d heard.)

* * *

 

“Hey, Chem!” Remus pulled Chem aside in a tunnel, pulling off the headphones Catcher made him wear everywhere, “Uh, I’m looking for Pet- Pest. Have you seen it around anywhere? It was s’posed to meet me.”

  Chem smiled, “Oh, I’ve seen it. C’mon, I’ll show you,” they turned down a side tunnel with a slight incline, and Remus followed them.

  “Y’know,” Chem said as they walked, “I’m glad you’re here, Underdog. Catcher’s always so arrogant, but you actually sass her! Take her down a peg, she needs that. Even Snitch doesn’t do that enough.”

  Remus frowned, turning to them, “Wait, I don’t make Catcher angry do I? I don’t mean to say stuff like that, it just slips out!”

   Chem laughed, shaking their head, “No, no!” They smiled at him, “I really think she likes you. We all do, Underdog, you and Pest both. You’re lovely.”

  The pair fell into silent step, and Remus realised that, at closer inspection, their dark red hair must be natural. He couldn’t imagine such hair in the greys of Bat City, but Chem said they grew up there.

  They stopped where the tunnel evened out and opened into a room filled with the smell of metal and oil, “And, we’re here! I saw Pest run off with some old friend of its mum and, well, this was her place.”

  Remus stepped into the room and looked around. The space was covered in parts - cars, bikes, he was sure there was a helicopter door propped against the far wall.

 In the centre of the room two large legs stuck out from underneath a car, and Pest was whistling while it worked.

   Remus knocked on the bonnet of the car, “Hey there, Pet.”

  The whistling stopped and Pest scrambled out from underneath the car, grinning up at Remus with an oil-smeared face, “Re- Underdog! Hi!”

  “So, this what you up to now?” He laughed at the sight of his friend, leaning on the car.

 Peter nodded, mopping its face with its beanie, “Apparently, me mam were ‘well shiny’ at mechanics, so I thought I’d give it a try.”

  “And?”

 “Oh, Dog, It’s awesome! I’ve never been good at something before, is this how it feels when you tell stories? It’s like all the pieces fit together and just… they just make sense, y’know?”

    “Oh, man, it’s been ages since I told a story…” Remus ran a hand through his hair - he had cut it short now, but still let it fall into his eyes.

   “Well, you can tell one while I work!” Pest scrambled back under the car, “Tell the one about the brothers, they never talked about that one at Sunday School and they should’a!”

  Remus smiled, pulling himself up to sit on the car and playing with his cane, “Alright, so…”

* * *

 

  “Hey, you two, c’mere!” Snitch waved at Remus and Pest, who had been playing chess in one of the fields. Ze stood with Chem and a few other Killjoys, who all had brooms in hand.

   Remus exchanged glances with Pest, then they walked over together. Snitch clapped them on the back, “This is Longshot and Danger Head,” Snitch nodded towards a couple beside zir, a stout dark Killjoy with many tattoos and a small Killjoy with bright yellow hair filled with paper flowers, “He and she. Our beaters. And that’s our seeker Gasoline Revenge, draer family founded the Burrow, the Wellards, as in, like, ‘well-hard.’” a tall and burly ginger Killjoy smiled at them, a painted dragon flew across draer jacket and Pest made a noise of awe, “Yeah, they’re all huge softies though.”

  “So,” Chem nudged Pest, “Either of you ever been on a broom before?” Both Remus and Pest shook their heads, “You wanna?”

    Remus grinned, happy to accept the broom Snitch thrust into his hand, whereas Pest held back, staring at the thin handles worriedly.

  “Don’t worry, fam,” Snitch smiled at it, pushing up zir goggles to reveal round glasses, “I’ve built brooms for fuckin’ half-giants. Literally half-giants! You’ll be fine on a Petrolhead Family Broom.”

   That seemed to reassure Pest, as it clutched the broom gladly. They walked into the clearing, and Snitch showed them how to use the brooms. Both struggled with it for a very long time, their brooms rolling about and falling down before reaching their hands.

  “Up!” Remus commanded, and laughed when his broom finally rose to his hand. He looked over to Pest, but it was gone. He heard a yell, and looked up to see Pest hovering in the sky, clutching its broom with its metal hand.

  Remus grinned and took off, flying to meet him. Snitch and Chem circled around them, cheering and whooping. Remus cheered with them, flying after Snitch and trying to catch the tail of zir broom. It was clear now why they called zir Golden Snitch; ze was impossibly fast.

   Remus flew faster and faster, higher and higher. As he soared he dared to take his hands from the handle, and he held them out to feel the air rush past him. It ruffled through his hair, short for the first time. He laughed as the red highlights blew into his face, and he forgot himself.

    He had no idea how long he spent up there, lost in the rush of the wind, but it was a while before he noticed the voices calling for him. He slowed, looking down. The others were grouped on the ground, and they were very small, so small Remus couldn’t tell Snitch from Chem.

   The air seemed to dissipate where he sat, fighting to escape his lungs and leave him gasping. He leant forward, waving around to try and find the handles of the broom, but he was tumbling and he felt the wood fall from between his knees. Remus remembered himself all at once.

* * *

 

Remus awoke in the cleanest room he had seen since he got here; the walls were washed blue and clear of scribbling and stickers, and he was lying in a very soft bed. He sat up, and as he did he realised that he ached all over.

  “Oh, thank fuck, he’s awake,” Catcher muttered. She and Pest were sat on upturned crates beside his bed, both with their thumb in their mouth, biting. Remus smiled at the amusing likeness.

  “How long have I been out? What happened? Oh, I’m so sorry, that was so stupid of me.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” Snitch sat up from where ze had been lying on the floor playing snap with Chem, “Happens to every other new flyer, swear down.”

  Catcher shrugged, “Well, I’ll take your apology. You’ve been out a day, and this place is really boring, by the way.”

  Remus frowned, “You’ve been here this whole time?”

   Pest nodded, “All of us.”

  “Actually,” Chem leant on the foot of the bed, “I distinctly remember Snitch taking far more ‘piss and smoking breaks’ than usual, so.”

  “I was anxious! Alright? And Pad’s right, this place is fuckin’ dead!” Snitch said.

  “I was anxious too, Prongs, and I stayed fuckin’ put,” Catcher said, “Also, Iggy, how the fuck are you so beat up? You do this shit a lot?”

   Remus and Pest exchanged nervous glances and he shrugged, “I’m just generally a bit of a klutz,” he laughed, “Well, am I allowed to get up and walk around now? I’d hate to keep you all.”

  “Sorry, Underdog,” Snitch frowned and shook zir head, “Pellet Popper says you gotta stay another day. Your leg’s regrowing, she wants to keep track of it.”

  “How did I survive with just a broken leg?” Remus asked.

  “That was me!” Chem raised their hand, “I do a mean cushioning charm.”

 Remus grinned, “No wand?”

  “Oh yeah! Fuck!” Catcher grabbed Remus’ arm and he flinched from the pain. She placed Remus’ gun case on his chest, patting it, “It’s all in one piece, Iggy, I checked.”

   Remus’ hands closed around the case, holding it to his chest.

  “So anyway!” Catcher waved her hand, leaning back and crossing her legs, “Bad timing, I s’pose, but I got an offer for you two,” she looked between Pest and Remus, smiling.

 Pest shrugged, “Uh, yeah?”

  “See, me, Chem, Snitch, sometimes Longshot, we’re a team.”

Remus nodded, “And?”

  “Well, we’re missing another fighter, and a mechanic. And really, I don’t know any better Killjoys for the job.”

  She winked at Remus, patting Pest on the shoulder. Pest looked at Remus, and they both grinned, faces lit up with excitement. Remus looked around the room, and Snitch and Chem looked just as happy with the idea as Catcher had.

  “We all got nicknames by the way,” Snitch said, “I’m Prongs, she’s Padfoot, Chem’s Jane Doe, Longshot ain’t got one really so we just call him Longbottom,”

  “Do not ask why. We’ll find you two some eventually,” Chem said. They looked at Pest and then Remus, raising a pierced eyebrow, “You in?”

  Remus and Pest nodded enthusiastically and Catcher laughed, jumping up and down in her seat and hitting them both on the arm, “Welcome to the Marauders!”


	6. the Draculoids

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After many blows were dealt and many close calls missed, the Marauders managed to pin down and kill two of the three Dracs, and Catcher had the third pinned against the Dracs’ car. Remus had a terrible sinking feeling that a smug monologue was coming.
> 
> On the Marauders' first patrol with Remus and Petrol Pest, they get into a clap with some Dracs, and something goes wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW religion talk early on, violence and death, misgendering once

Remus woke to Catcher slapping him in the face repeatedly. He shoved her away, sitting up, “What the fuck are you on?”

 Catcher laughed, “I was waking you up! C’mon, both of you! It’s our turn to patrol.”

  Catcher whipped the sheets from both their beds. She laughed, “Pest, your jammies!”

   Pest folded his arms over his childlike footsies and Remus grabbed his wand case, shooting a mild jinx at Catcher, “ _You_ say the word jammies, so shut up!”

 Catcher yelped, dodging the jinx. She stuck her tongue out at Remus and flounced from the room, “Get dressed! Quick!”

  Remus and Pest exchanged glances, and then hurriedly pulled on their clothes.

* * *

Minutes later they made their way to the room where the Marauders often met, and found Chem and Catcher sat on opposite sofas. Chem read with legs crossed, whereas Catcher sprawled across an entire sofa, clicking her fingers and muttering “lumos, lumos, _lumos_ , damnit!”

   Remus sat down on her knees and she smiled at him, “Hey!” Her fingers lit up with a click and she laughed.

   Pest slumped into a saggy armchair, looking around, “Where’s Prongs?”

  Chem looked up, running a hand along the shaved side of their head, “Praying. Ze woke up late, didn’t even budge when Padfoot jumped on zir-”

   “Ze had a long night. Your fault, Doe,” Catcher shrugged.

  “So ze’s a bit late.”

  Remus raised his eyebrows, “What religion is ze?”

  “Hindu,” Chem said, throwing him a smile.

  “Cool!” He smiled back, “Are you?”

  Chem shook their head, “My parents weren’t, so I’m not.”

    “Well, what about you, Catcher? You religious?” Remus looked at Catcher. She stared at her clicking fingers and the faint smile fell from her face. She shrugged, twitching her nose.

   “Okay… Well, I’m-”

  “We know.”

  “And Pest’s-”

 “Catholic, yeah, the saying grace before every single bloody meal was a bit of a giveaway.”

   Pest shrugged, muttering, “It’s a habit.”

 Remus looked at Chem, frowning, and they shrugged. Then they looked up and smiled, “Ah, there ze is!”

    “Wheeey!” Snitch ran into the middle of the cluster of chairs, bowing with a flourish. “Alright, Marauders,” ze tugged Catcher and Chem to their feet, kissing them both on the cheek, “Let’s roll!”

* * *

 

After much squabbling between Catcher and Snitch, Pest found itself driving the car, and beads of sweat covered its round face. It was the car Remus had seen it working on a week before, roofless and long with a large Killjoy Widow stencilled across the bonnet. There were raymarks all over it.

    Chem sat up front beside Pest, guiding it and feeding it encouragement. Which left Remus, Catcher, and Snitch to sit together in the back.

   Catcher sat on the top of the car, tipping her head back in the wind, and her knees knocked against Remus and Snitch’s faces.

   Snitch busied zirself with some maps, and Remus stared out at the wasteland of the Zones, listening to the radio blear. It was the Killjoys’ radio, and Cal was right when he said it was 50% Dr Death Defying talking, but at least he had a way with words, and the songs that came between were good, although Remus never thought they could equal the ones Catcher had played him that first day in the Burrow.

  He stared out at the barren fields and tree-stumps, and tried to remember life in Wales before the fires, when there had been fields of green, spattered with colourful flowers, and whole forests full of trees. Remus hadn’t seen a tree since he was nine years old. He let his eyes follow the wires on the old electricity towers, but they fell away quickly into piles of charred black metal.

   “Ow!” Catcher yanked his head up by the hair. Remus glanced through the corners of his eyes to see she’d done the same to Snitch.

  “Stop the car!” Catcher yelled, “Pest, stop the car right now!”

  Pest veered the car to a screeching halt, throwing them all forward. Remus gritted his teeth as his head hit against Pest’s seat, getting royally fed up with being thrown about.

  “What?” Chem whirled around in their seat, coughing through the dust, “What is it?”

  Catcher held up a hand, lifting her goggles with the other and staring out at the horizon. “Does anyone else hear that?” Remus sat up, watching Catcher and listening. There was a distant humming.

   “That’s an engine,” Snitch said.

   “Killjoys?” Pest whispered, hands wringing the steering wheel.

   Catcher shook her head, “Dracs.”

Draculoids were the vampire-masked employees of BL/ind, payed to kill Killjoys. Their only redeeming trait was their love of parties; most Killjoys could relate.

     Chem gripped Pest’s shoulder, “Pest, drive! Turn the car around, right now!”

 “No!” Catcher jumped forward, flicking Chem away, “No, we can take ‘em!”

  “Star _fucking_ Catcher,” Chem turned at Catcher, anger burning in their eyes, “This is their first patrol!”

   Catcher scowled at them, digging her fingers into the leather seats. They had waited too long, and the hum of the Dracs’ car was upon them. Chem broke the stare-off with a frustrated yell, pulling two rayguns from the pocket of the car door.

 “Get yourself down, Pest!” They yelled, shoving Pest from view, “Keep safe, alright? We’ll deal with this. There’s a gun down there if you need it.”

  Catcher grinned, leaping from the car and throwing her guns in the air, catching them with ease, “This is gonna be sik!”

   Snitch looked at Remus, throwing up zir arms in exasperation, before jumping out after Catcher. Remus stayed where he was, clutching his cased wand and watching the Drac car circle around them, throwing up dust. He could hear them whoop and laugh, shooting into the air.

   Catcher shot at them, spinning around, “Come on, you fuckin’ cowards! Get outta that car, fight us!”

   The car skidded to a halt and three Dracs jumped out. Another, smaller Drac tried to join them, but was shoved back inside the car.

   “Three against three,” Catcher smiled, hands on hips, “A fair right!”

  “Yeah,” the tallest Drac stepped forward, “Except one of you’s a girl,” they nodded at Chem.

   The Drac scampered backwards as Chem shot repeatedly at their feet, “You shouldn’t be so quick to make those assumptions!”

   Chem only just managed to jump away from rays flying past their head, and the fight started. The air seared with the heat of it, both parties running around their cars as shields. Remus dared to watch over the top of the car door, judging every close call, heart beating hard in his chest.

    After many blows were dealt and many close calls missed, the Marauders managed to pin down and kill two of the three Dracs, and Catcher had the third pinned against the Dracs’ car. Remus had a terrible sinking feeling that a smug monologue was coming.

   Before Catcher could get started, the smaller Drac jumped onto the roof of the car, raygun pointed at her head. She pushed the other Drac to the ground where they crumbled up against the car, and pointed her gun at the new Drac.

   They stepped forward, unwavering, and Catcher stumbled, stepping back.

 “I told you to stay in the car!” the older Drac shouted,

 “Shut up, Snape!” they snapped, jumping over Snape’s body, “You… I know you, I’ve seen you somewhere…”

    Catcher’s hands began to shake, and she lowered her gun slowly. Remus forgot himself,

  “Expelliarmus!” he yelled, aiming the wand, and the gun flew from the Drac’s hand. “Run!”

   Chem and Snitch fled to the car, but Catcher stayed where she was, staring at the Drac as they backed towards their own car.

  Remus gritted his teeth and cursed, before throwing himself out of the car and running at Catcher, tugging her back into the car, “Drive!”

  Pest was back up, and nodded, and the car skidded off in a cloud of dust and mud.

* * *

 

Pest pulled up the car in the barn, and Chem and Snitch turned on Catcher,

 “What the fuck was that?” Snitch hissed through gritted teeth,

 “I told you!” Chem slammed their fist against the back of their seat, “I told you we should’a drove!”

  Remus watched Catcher, frowning – a frown that drew a line between his eyebrows. Her hands were still shaking. He took hold of one, “Who was that?”

    “No one!” Catcher yelled. Chem and Snitch went silent, staring at her. “No one, it was… it was no one.” Her hand tightened around Remus’.

 


	7. Dr Death Defying

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dr Death smiled, going into one of his many speeches about the bravery of the rebellion, and the necessity to feel all things, no matter how painful. Catcher groaned and yelled out, “That’s cool and all, but I’m hungry!”
> 
> Dr Death corners Remus, and it becomes clear why StarCatcher hates him so much.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW food mentions, death mentions, b slur (reclaimed)
> 
> to clarify: yes, Dr Death is Dumbledore and Alleycat is McGonnogall

Remus didn’t see Catcher again until that evening at dinner. He sat talking with Calamity Kid when she shoved up beside him, filling the table with her elbows. She smiled at Remus, and it was as if that morning had never happened.

 “Are you alright, Iggy? You look fucking awful!” Catcher tilted her head, frowning.

   “I was just saying that!” Cal threw up her arms. She was a she today, with long green hair and a towering build of six feet. Remus had learnt to identify her only by her yellow and black jacket, and her nose.

   He laughed, shaking his head, “I’m still a little shaky from the fall, is all,” he shrugged, avoiding mention of the clap with the Draculoids, which had definitely shaken him more than the fall ever could.

  Time whiled on, and they were joined by the other Marauders, and Remus’ stomach began to complain, and still no food came. Catcher began drumming her hands on the table, chanting, ‘Why are we waiting, whyyyy are we waaaaiting!’

   They entire food hall had grown restless, calling at the kitchen, breaking into chants and drumbeats on the tables. An old Killjoy in a wheelchair wheeled himself before the huddle of tables and held up his hand, and silence fell. He wore a studded blue leather jacket that was far cleaner than anything any other Killjoy wore, and his hair and beard were long, grey, and neatly brushed. Closely beside him stood a tall Killjoy in green.

   “I am sorry,” the Killjoy said, and Remus recognised his voice as Dr Death Defying instantly, “For keeping you all. I was here to talk to my old friend Ollivander, and thought I’d say hello.”

   The food hall erupted with cheering, and Remus felt Catcher stiffen beside him. Dr Death smiled, going into one of his many speeches about the bravery of the rebellion, and the necessity to feel all things, no matter how painful. Catcher groaned and yelled out, “That’s cool and all, but I’m hungry!”

  Remus laughed, catching the cup someone hurled their way. Dr Death nodded, “Then eat you will. I’ll keep you no longer,” he wheeled himself away, “Stay alive, Killjoys.”

  Catcher rolled her eyes as the cooks finally emerged with the food, “What else would we do? Keel over and die? Fuck off.”

  Remus nodded, “Yeah,” He stifled a laugh as he watched Cal transform her face into Catcher’s and pull a caricatured sour face, “Yeah, he’s so full of shit.”

* * *

 

Remus made his way from the food hall hours later with Catcher’s arm around him, she was laughing and tousling his hair.

   “Excuse me,” they turned to find Dr Death behind them. He looked up at Remus, “Ignition Underdog, is it?”

   Catcher pulled Remus closer, “What do you want, Death?”

  Dr Death shook his head, “I see you’re still angry, StarCatcher. I only did what had to be done. It was for the greater good.”

   “Oh, bullshit! Answer the question!”

 Dr Death turned to Remus again, “I hear you have a wand, one of the last?”

  Remus stood his ground, staring Dr Death down, “What’s it to you?”

  Dr Death raised an eyebrow, “You may have noticed, I am something of a leader among the resistance. If there is a wand, I must be sure it is well protected.”

  “It is,” Said Remus. His hand closed around the handle of the wand’s case.

  “I believe it would be safer with me, Ignition Underdog,” There was a warning in his tone that put Remus on edge,

  “Weren’t you listening, old man?” Catcher snapped, pushing Remus behind her, “It’s safe! We’re not interested!”

   Dr Death sighed, “Come, Alleycat,” he waved a wrinkled hand at the tall Killjoy, who took hold of the back of his wheelchair, “It seems our business here is through for today.”

 Alleycat gave Catcher a look of pity, and the pair of them watched her and Dr Death Defying disappear into the crowd. Not for a second did Catcher’s grip on Remus loosen, and not once did Remus’ grip on the wand either.

    “C’mon,” Catcher turned Remus around, leading him down the tunnel in the opposite direction from his room, “You’re staying with me tonight.”

  Remus stumbled and frowned up at Catcher, “What? Why?”

  “Death’s prolly not the only one who knows about you, I’m not letting you out of my sight. Trust no bitch. In fact, you know what? You’ll have to move in with me.”

  “Uh, no!” Remus laughed nervously.

 “What? I can hardly move in with you; your room’s tiny!”

 “No!” Remus stamped his foot, standing still, “I will not leave Petrol Pest! We’re siblings in more than name, and I have to stick by it. I’m all it’s got left.”

  “Oh,” Catcher looked back at him, smiling, “No you’re not, silly!”

* * *

 

“Wicked!” Pest breathed, running into Catcher’s large room, “Fuckin’ _shiny!”_

Remus counted the beds; there were four, but five Marauders.

  “Um, Padfoot…” he pointed, frowning at Catcher,

 “Oh,” she waved her hand dismissively, “Prongs and JD share; they’re, like, married,” she pulled a face. Remus had come to understand that there were many levels to Killjoy relationships; while Catcher and Snitch were happily boy(ish)friends, Chem and Snitch knew each other’s names by choice, and this was the deepest bond a Killjoy could have.

   Snitch and Chem entered hand in hand and Catcher laughed, “Speak of the devil! Welcome to the Marauders’ Cave, you two!”

  Chem raised their eyebrows, “I distinctly remember this being ‘Catcher’s Cave’”

 “Oh, get with the times, Doe!” Snitch teased, “That was, like, a whole five minutes ago!”

  Catcher yawned, “I don’t have to deal with this in my own bloody cave!”

  “Ah ah ah!” Chem wagged their finger, “ _Our_ cave. The Marauders’ Cave!”

 Catcher rolled her eyes, nudging Remus, “So, Sunshine, this is your bed,” she shoved him over onto a bed in the corner furthest from the door. The sheets were printed with the same pattern as his bandana, and he laughed.

   Catcher climbed onto a plain black bed that had been moved to bar the way between Remus’ bed and the rest of the room, “No stars for you, StarCatcher?” Remus tilted his head.

  “Believe it or not,” Snitch sat down on the largest bed, “Catcher hates stars.”

 Catcher shrugged, “Stars are the motif of the House of Black, one of Bat City’s elite and I’d say the worst of the bunch. That’s why I’m StarCatcher, Prongs, I won’t rest ‘til they’re all dead.”

     “Yeah, yeah,” Chem yawned, pulling the covers of their bed over them, “You do that. Do the honours, will you?”

     Catcher pulled a deluminator from her pocket, and with a ‘plink’ they were plunged into darkness.

  After a moment, Remus called out, “‘Night Pet.”

 “Goodnight Underdog,” Came the response, “Goodnight Snitch. Good night Chem. Goodnight-”

        “Oh my _days_ , Pest!” Catcher laughed, “Good _night!”_

* * *

 

Remus lay awake, watching the faint glow of Catcher’s jacket hung on the wall, and waiting until he was sure by their breathing that everyone else was asleep.

 “Padfoot?” He whispered.

 “Yes, Iggy?” Came the response.

 “What did Dr Death Defying take from you?”

 Catcher paused, then said, “My wand.”

 “You had a wand?”

 “It was three years ago, they was less scarce. But Death… he knew what was coming, and I trusted him, and…”

  “And?”

“And because I did, innocent people died.” He heard the bed creak as Catcher sat up.

 “Oh… What happened to the wand?”

 “Dunno, fam. Death says it was destroyed in some battle or other, but… Never let him touch your wand, alright, Ignition Underdog?”

  Remus nodded, then remembered the dark, “I won’t.”

 Catcher chuckled, eyes flashing by the light of her jacket, “No innuendo intended, by the way.” Remus groaned and chucked a pillow at her head, “I’m sorry, alright? Couldn’t help myself!”

  “If you two are done having a lovely heart to heart,” Chem grumbled, “Then how about you try _GOING THE FUCK TO SLEEP?”_

 


	8. the Transformation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pest transformed, fearing its own safety, and the large rat tried to pull Remus up the ladder by its teeth. Remus curled up around himself, shaking his head, groans turning to growls before he could stop them. It was no use, he’d endangered everyone here. He was so stupid, to think he could have friends, allies, a community. A fucking underground community that literally lived under the ground! He hoped this transformation killed him.
> 
> Remus forgot a very, very important date.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW graphic violence, b slur, ableist slurs, medical

As the sun set – invisible from the underground bedroom – a strange feeling overtook Remus. His bones ached deeper than usual, and they seemed to dig into him at the joins. Remus sat up, and felt a falling feeling. How could he have forgotten?

 He scrambled out of bed, fumbling through the darkness until he found Pest’s bed. He shook it, “Pest! Pest! It’s- it’s _that time!”_ He whispered, heart hammering in his chest too hard to discern if anyone else had stirred. He bit down on his hand, desperate to push away the violent impulses rushing through him.

“Wha- oh fuck!” Pest fell out of bed and grabbed Remus, pulling him out of the room. They ran through the tunnels, and Remus had to rely on Pest to guide him, because now the cracking of his spine was clouding his every thought. He tore at his shirt, as if scratching his spine out would stop it from growing.

They had almost reached a door to the surface when Remus fell to the ground, pained screams turning to inhuman snarling. He was still human, just about, but he didn’t think he’d make it.

Pest, as it always did when panicking, began reciting prayers. Usually Remus found it endearing but now he wanted to tear its throat out, “Shut up!” He screeched through gritted teeth that were moving and growing in their sockets.

Pest transformed, fearing its own safety, and the large rat tried to pull Remus up the ladder by its teeth. Remus curled up around himself, shaking his head, groans turning to growls before he could stop them. It was no use, he’d endangered everyone here. He was so stupid, to think he could have friends, allies, a community. A fucking underground community that literally lived _under the ground!_ He hoped this transformation killed him.

The wolf got to its feet, turning away from the ladder. It raised its great grey head, and snarled. In its way stood a black dog, big enough to be its equal. Remus watched the dog, and the strange familiarity of her gave him a new lease of energy to grapple for control.

The dog stepped forward, shackles raised, a warning growl growing in her throat. The wolf tried to leap past her, and she attacked. It was pinned against the tunnel wall, but not for long, the wolf bit into the dog’s leg and she jumped back, attacking again before the wolf could escape. They fought, tussling and snarling, a mess of fur and claws and teeth. But Remus could tell the dog was holding back, trying not to hurt the wolf, who was unleashing all hell. He could hear it, ‘kill, kill! Kill the bitch! Kill it!’ Its voice inside their shared head was like blades against rock.

‘No!’ Remus begged, ‘Please, don’t kill her! She’s just a dog! I’ll do anything! Take me instead! You can be wolf forever, just leave the dog!’

It was useless, the wolf ignored him as it always did, continuing to slash and tear. It pinned the dog to the ground, where she bled heavily, and Remus forgot himself entirely. He screamed, and he could hear the scream ring out around him. He jumped back from the dog, which leapt up, looming over him silently.

He backed away, lowering his head, and the dog watched. After a moment she relaxed, limping forward. Remus flinched, stumbling back, but all she did was begin licking the deep gash in his shoulder. He realised exactly what it is he had done, and collapsed from exhaustion.

The dog curled up beside him, tending to her own profusely bleeding wounds, and there they stayed, rat wolf and dog, for the rest of the night.

* * *

 

Remus awoke to find himself in a hospital bed again, and sighed. He might as well move in full time. He heard Pest laugh, and sat up, looking around him. Once again, all the Marauders had gathered around his bedside – all but one.

“Where’s-”

“She’s fine, Underdog,” Chem patted his knee, giving him a smile that dissipated his panic, “Nothing to worry about.”

“Yeah, Under _dog_ , _Moon_ shine, with your _moon_ pendant. Fuck, how’d I not clock? Honestly, Chem, how’d I miss that?”

 “I’ve been hiding it from everyone but my parents and Pest since age 9,” Remus muttered, “I’m good at it.”

“Ehhhh,” Pest shrugged, “Not really, Doggy. _I_ am.”

“Hey, okay, would you be an animagus without me? No? So shut up. It’s my condition, I get to take some credit,” he smiled at it, “But yeah, you’re right.” He looked around, perplexed by how comfortable Snitch and Chem were around him. Had nothing changed? “Aren’t you all scared of me?”

Snitch shrugged, “Why would we be?”

“I’m a werewolf!”

“Yeah, a werewolf what folds his socks!” Catcher snorted, tugging aside the screen that hid her from the others. She was leant precariously out of bed to reach, and a good 30% of her body was bandaged.

 Remus stared at her, pointing, “You’re an animagus,” he breathed.

Catcher pulled a face, “Y’know, I really thought the first thing you’d say’d be ‘sorry’ or some shit. But yeah, I am, and what?”

 Remus lowered his hand, “Oh, right. I’m sorry, Padfoot. I really, really am. If you’d killed me there, I wouldn’t have blamed you for it. You probably should have.”

 Catcher shook her head, “Nah, Iggy. Nobody was hurt – well, ‘sides me and you – and you was trying to get out anyway. You’re good, Ignition Underdog, you’re very, very good. Not so sure about nice, though,”

Remus laughed, “At least I know why you’re Padfoot now,” He looked around, “JaneDoe, do you have anything you want to tell us?”

Chem smirked at Snitch, who stood up, rubbing zir hands, “Alright, Underdog, watch this,” before his eyes ze turned into a stag, and bucked zir great antlers at Remus.

  He laughed, “Ohhh, _Prongs!_ ‘Course. So, Chem, nothing?”

Chem shook their head, “These two dickheads only became animagi for a laugh, and I didn’t fancy risking _death_ for a laugh, so I did the responsible thing and left them to it.”

“Aw, no you didn’t, JD!” Snitch turned back, nudging zir datemate, “You was there every step of the way, making sure your beloved Golden Snitch didn’t die!”

Chem laughed, burying their face in their arms, “Sometimes I wish you had!”

“Oh, we all do, babes,” Catcher leant back in bed, sighing, “Man, we have had such a day! How many near death encounters exactly? Including near _Death_ encounters, which are just as bad.”

Remus watched her, and she turned to him, smiling, “Hey! Nicknames!” she picked two jellybeans from the bowl beside her bed, tossing one at Remus, “Moony,” she tossed another at Pest, hitting it square on the head, “Wormtail!” She scattered the rest of them with jellybeans carelessly, “Padfoot, JaneDoe and Prongs.”

Snitch snorted, catching a bean in zir mouth, “Wormtail’s a shit name!”

“Hey!” Pest shoved zir, “I like it! At least it doesn’t sound like- like- like cooking utensils!”

“Ooh, zinger! You got zir there,” Chem laughed.

“Shut up, JD Sports!”

“Oh, yeah, only you would remember some next wasteman brand that died out over a decade ago!”

Remus laughed at them, but was stopped by a large yawn. Snitch and Chem stopped squabbling, and Chem pulled zir to zir feet,

“You three have been up all night, we’ll leave you to sleep.”

“Yeah,” Catcher smirked, turning over under her covers, “Piss of, Snitch, I don’t need you anymore, Moony and Wormtail are my new crew.”

“You don’t have to leave, guys,” Remus shook his head, “We like your company.”

Chem shook their head, “Snitch can’t keep quiet to save zir life-”

“There’s evidence to back that one up,” Snitch added,

“And besides, we have work to be getting on with. C’mon, Kitchen Utensil,” Chem turned, walking away.

 Snitch grinned at them, walking backwards and shrugging, “‘work!’”

_“Prongs!”_ Chem called, and Snitch ran from the room laughing. Catcher threw a jellybean at the back of zir head.

“Welp,” Catcher shuffled down in bed, throwing the sheets up to her chin, “Good morning-night, Moony, oh master of many secrets, and Wormtail, who we probably owe for his life.”

Pest nodded, “On more occasions than I can count.”

  Remus rolled his eyes, turning over, “Go to sleep, the pair of you.”

 A warm feeling had settled inside him that was near-forgotten, it was the feeling he’d had on cold nights by the fire when his mother had braided his hair while his father played violin or told stories, or the feeling on his fifth birthday, when he had a party with three whole friends and a cake and felt human for the first time in a year. It was the feeling of having a family; one that loves you. He had never been gladder to survive a transformation.


	9. Months Passed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Weeks eased into months, and the Marauders now had a well-oiled Full Moon Plan. Remus, accompanied by Catcher, Pest, and Snitch, drove out to the middle of the desert before nightfall, while Chem gave them all an alibi. Usually, it involved Dracs and trips to the nearby night-club, Hyper-Thrust. Luckily, they were far better at lying than Remus, exceeding even Pest.
> 
> this is basically the fic equivalent of a montage + StarCatcher and Remus interacting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW non graphic violence, mother death mention
> 
> sorry its a day late, its mock exam month

Weeks eased into months, and the Marauders now had a well-oiled Full Moon Plan. Remus, accompanied by Catcher, Pest, and Snitch, drove out to the middle of the desert before nightfall, while Chem gave them all an alibi. Usually, it involved Dracs and trips to the nearby night-club, Hyper-Thrust. Luckily, they were far better at lying than Remus, exceeding even Pest.

Remus found that, with his three friends in animal form around him, it was far easier to keep his own mind in transformations, and soon they were roaming about the desert together, and it felt closer to an adventure than a curse. This is how Remus learnt of the Marauders’ Map; a map of all the Zones, which was supposed to show where anyone was at any given moment when complete. Snitch had been making it, with the help of Catcher and Chem, for about a year, they had only managed to chart from where the Thames met the sea to Bat City, just the north-eastern stretch surrounding the Burrow, but thanks to their monthly nights roaming, they had been able to chart all of the northern Zones, right down to every charred-out treestump.

The rest of Remus’ time was filled with either work or parties, which he usually spent smoking outside Hyper-Thrust with Catcher. Work consisted of anything from patrols to bomb building to wardrobe duty. It turned out the clothes that filled the wardrobe room weren’t always things people had grown out of or thrown away, but there were in fact many items that people had died in. Mostly, it was Drac gear that found itself in the wardrobe room, or just jackets and jeans, as a motif from every fallen Killjoy resided in a large field. It was an eerie sight, miles of helmets, masks, and bandanas. Pest’s mother had a biker helmet, bright red with a Gryffindor lion across it. When Pest saw it, it fell to its knees crying, blubbering about lions on pyjamas when it was a child.

In the rota of different jobs, Remus found he wasn’t very useful for much. He had been banned from the kitchen after he gave food poisoning to a third of the Burrow’s inhabitants, kicked from bomb-building for trying to tell Chem they were brewing their potions wrong – ‘please, Doe, I’m begging you to stop using Tupperware’ – and even cleaning duty wanted rid of him for talking more than mopping and needing to sit down every few rooms – why did they even have cleaning duty? The Burrow was always a mess, anyway. He found himself stuck in wardrobe duty with Cal, who was more than happy to have ‘another useless layabout’ around. Remus reminded himself to check if the library needed a helping hand.

 It seemed the only things he really excelled at were stories, keeping Catcher’s big head in check, and magic. He thought finally, surrounded by magical people, he wouldn’t have to hide anymore, but he was still forced to hide his wand, stuck only with the wandless magic the others used. The only time he could really be himself – wand and werewolf both – was with the Marauders. Soon, the word ‘patrol’ became music to his ears.

Patrols themselves, however, had grown increasingly perilous. Catcher had been banned from ever driving again after she deliberately chased after a Drac car for miles. Chem and Snitch had yelled her into a crying fit right there in the desert, and she summoned her bike and rode off home alone. Nobody saw hair nor hide of her for two days.

Every time they ran into Dracs, she became a killing machine, systematically grabbing, unmasking, and ghosting every single one. Every so often, Remus saw her flinch when she pulled off the mask, and there was the faintest look of recognition in the Drac’s face, before she killed them. Remus had begun having nightmares, albeit quiet and brief ones, filled with the faces of Dracs, masks thrown aside, and the closed off look that came over Catcher when she fought, sometimes interrupted with snippets of news stories he could never remember. He was sure now that Catcher’s accent was from somewhere in Uppers – but, unlike Pigs, most Draculoids were from Lowers, so that couldn’t make sense, could it?

 Once or twice, when patrolling, they had heard the whirr of a S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W and Catcher disapparated with Remus (she was far better at that now; they’d been practicing together) and they waited for the others to return. They always did, so far.

  Every clap with a pack of Dracs caused Catcher to disappear for hours on end, saying nothing to anyone, and when she reappeared she showed no signs that anything had happened. It worried Remus.

One day, he had been sat in the library reading, tired from a day of fighting and a full moon coming, when Catcher sought him out. She wordlessly shoved Remus aside in his beanbag and sat down beside him, wrapping her arms around his middle and resting her head on his shoulder.

Remus stared at her, then sighed. He loved Catcher, from her lack of personal boundaries to her semi-violent affection, but he struggled to pick up hints at the best of times, and she made it very hard.

Catcher nudged him with her head, “What you reading?” She mumbled.

“The Hobbit. Most copies of this were burnt in the Purge, I’m constantly amazed at how many banned books this place has!”

Catcher shrugged, “Ain’t never heard of it.”

“Well,” Remus smiled at Catcher, “How about I read you some? With voices and all.”

Catcher nodded, tugging Remus’ right hand from the book and wrapping his arm around her. She’s a lot like a dog, really, Remus thought. It was endearing.

 So Remus read to Catcher, and Catcher listened silently until she stood up without warning, muttering something about being hungry and wandering from the library. She poked her head back a moment later, grinning at Remus, “You comin’ or what?”

 


	10. the Party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “There’s nobody you miss? Your mum, maybe?”  
>  Catcher laughed dryly, “I hope that was sarcasm."
> 
> Petrol Pest has a birthday, Remus has feelings, StarCatcher has an amazing (terrible) plan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW food mentions, father death talk, smoking

Everyone cheered, and Remus snapped a photo as Petrol Pest blew out its seventeen candles. He and Chem had been working on charming a camera to produce moving pictures for months, and had only just figured it out in time. They were gathered around a bin-fire on the roof of Hyper-Thrust, all the Marauders, Longshot and Danger Head, and Calamity Kid.

Pest hid its face from the camera, laughing, as Chem cut the cake. Snitch and Catcher had taken it upon themselves to intrude into every photo, fighting to outdo each other for most ridiculous pose. Soon they settled down, all eating and talking and laughing.

“Oi, does this mean Underdog’s the last of us to turn seventeen?” Snitch asked through a mouth of cake.

“Yeah!” Pest grinned, “He’s a whole three months younger than me!”

“Awwww,” Catcher smirked, pinching Remus’ cheek, “Our ickle baby Moony!”

  “Hey! I thought I was the group baby!” Pest whined,

“Oh you are, Wormy,” Catcher nudged it, “In every way that matters. Besides, Iggy’s too ugly to be group baby!” Remus kicked playfully at Catcher’s shins, “ _And_ too violent!”

“Boys, do not make me come over there,” Chem warned. They were sat on Danger Head’s lap, and she was braiding their hair. “Okay, Pest, ready for your presents?”

Pest’s mouth dropped open, crumbs of cake falling out, “You lot got me presents? All of yous?”

Snitch shook his head, yawning, “I didn’t!”

“Yes ze did. Pest, don’t listen to zir,” Chem rolled their eyes and pulled a glittery package from their jacket, passing it to Pest.

It tore off the wrapping and its eyes lit up as it surveyed the pen knife that fell out. It revelled in pressing all the many buttons, releasing spanners and knives and screwdrivers and things Remus couldn’t even name.

“I _bought_ that,” Chem said, “From the Dead Pegasus off Route Guano.”

“Which one?” Catcher scoffed, “It’s got more DP’s than Flies!”

They went through all of Pest’s presents, Remus taking photos throughout. A biker helmet, a huge pack of cigarettes, Longshot and Danger Head gave a joint gift of a large potted cactus called ‘Ugly,’ and a hunk of cheese, which was Cal’s idea of a joke.

When it came to Remus’ present he felt his face heat up. He had a classic coming of age wizard gift prepared back in Battery City, but he hadn’t taken it with him. It wasn’t the kind of thing you could replace easily, especially not in the Zones. His new present was shameful in comparison.

 Pest’s hand closed around the small stuffed lion, and it went very quiet. It had been patched together from scraps he’d managed to pilfer from the wardrobe department, stuffed with sand. He knew Pest liked heavy things.

“I-I had a different present planned, see, but I’d left it in Bat City. I didn’t really know what else to do, I’m sorry, Pet. I’m going to process this film for you, too!”

Pest looked up, laughing at Remus. Its eyes were watery, and its face flushed. It threw its arms around Remus, nearly winding him in an enthusiastic hug, “It’s brilliant!” He squeaked, “It’s the most sik-est, shiniest, coolest thing!”

Remus spluttered, sure Pest was exaggerating, but smiled and patted its bag nonetheless, “No problem, Pet. I’m glad you like it.”

They sat on the roof for the rest of the night, blasting the Weird Sisters through a bashed up radio. Snitch got out a pack of exploding snap cards and had great fun teaching Pest how to play while everyone began exhausting its new supply of cigarettes.

Remus sat on the edge of the roof, smoking his second cigarette and staring out into the Zones. He could make out the lights of Battery City on the horizon, and felt very odd indeed. It wasn’t homesickness, not like he’d felt when he moved to the City from Wales, but it was something. The half of his life he’d spent within those walls now felt like a distant memory, a half-remembered dream – it was less than a year ago. He thought of his old classmates; they were probably all muggles, although it was very hard to tell under the dose, the ‘rat poison.’ He wondered what they were doing now. Had any of them run away to the Zones?

Catcher sat down beside him, dangling her legs over the edge. She nudged Remus, “Oi, what you doing out here, party pooper?”

“Oh, I lost at snap and I’m letting them carry on. It’s been…” He checked his watch, “An hour, and they’re still playing.”

“So you decided to smoke and mope instead of come talk to me?”

“I’m tired,” he glanced at her, “Don’t worry, I’m not mad at you or nothing. I’d tell you if I were.”

He blew smoke onto the horizon and watched the lights of Bat City disappear from sight, “Oh, look, there it is. Curfew.”

Catcher leant on her hands, regarding Remus, “Do you miss it?”

“Huh?”

“Do you miss Battery City?”

He shrugged, “Do you?”

“It was hell. The food was nice, but everything else was fuckin’ shite.”

“There’s nobody you miss? Your mum, maybe?”

  Catcher laughed dryly, “I hope that was sarcasm. Yeah, there’s a few people I miss, sometimes…” She went quiet, waving her hands through the smoke from Remus’ cigarette. Then she sighed, “I think some people just can’t be saved, when they’ve been raised on the rat poison. It takes a strong kid to break through that.”

Remus looked at her, and he didn’t dare pry further; he could already see the closed-off look coming over her face. “You didn’t answer the question, by the way,” she said.

 “Oh, right,” Remus turned back to the horizon, trying to identify the stars, “Well… I guess I miss my mum. I’m sure by now I would’ve gone back, talked to her, and that would’ve either ended in me storming out again or some kind of teary make-up thing. Probably the former.”

Catcher snorted, “Fuck mums.”

“Mmh. There were some books I left back there, and a few magical artefacts, stuff from my father, sometimes I miss those. The library here is great, but those books… Romani magic, Jewish magic, Welsh magic! Most magic books are so white English, y’know? My father always thought that was bullshit, and he protected those books before all others. We had a lot of books, once, but most of them were burnt. He made sure we saved those ones.”

“He sounds like a cool guy,” Catcher muttered.

  Remus shrugged, “I… I can’t say I remember, really. With lycanthropy and all the moving and then the End and the Fires… It’s all kind of blurry. But yeah, he was, he was fuckin’ shiny,” he nodded, smiling sadly.

 Catcher leant closer, “You got photos or anything?”

  “Did. I just have the wand now.” He ground his cigarette into the concrete, then flung the stub off the roof.

Catcher grabbed him by both shoulders, a wild grin stretching her fine features, “I have a plan! A brilliant idea!”

 “Whoa! What is it?” Remus laughed nervously, clinging to Catcher for fear of falling over the edge.

Her grin turned to a smirk and she tapped her nose, “You leave that to me. It’s a surprise, alright?” She jumped up, walking to the stairs down to the ground. She turned, flicking her hair, and called back, “You’re gonna love this, Moony!”

Remus sighed, pushing the hair from his eyes. He better warn the Medical Matron he may be spending another night in her care.

 


	11. StarCatcher's Brilliant Idea

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Remus smiled despite himself, wrestling on his binder and throwing a smock over it carelessly, “Care to tell me what the plan is?”  
> “Oh my days, Moony, you have a vocab like you swallowed a dictionary, and yet you don’t know the meaning of the word surprise?” She tutted, flicking his nose, “You done?”
> 
> Otherwise titled: StarCatcher's mega awful fuckup number one

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW non graphic violence, police, explosions, parents mentions, child abuse implied, pda

They had made it home normally enough, no hijinks, and had all gone to bed with no problems nor oddities. Remus lay awake, trying to figure out what Catcher was planning. Perhaps it was something as simple as getting together a collection of information about his father; there should be plenty to find, he heard his father had been famous in his work with phantom creatures such as boggarts in his day. No, he could never trust Catcher to be that docile, everything with her had to go with a bang and a flare.

A heavy weight landed on his chest, knocking the breath from him, “Look alive, Moonshine!” Catcher whispered, flashing a torchlight in Remus’ face and making him squint, “I’ve got a surprise for you!”

Remus shoved Catcher off him, pulling himself out of bed, “What is it, Padfoot? If it’s another dead bird I swear down I will feed you to the hippogriff, the whole dog thing is only endearing to an extent. And the line is drawn at rotting dead things.”

Catcher scoffed, shoving him, “’Course not! Don’t you remember? I said I had a plan. C’mon, get dressed!”

Remus smiled despite himself, wrestling on his binder and throwing a smock over it carelessly, “Care to tell me what the plan is?”

“Oh my days, Moony, you have a vocab like you swallowed a dictionary, and yet you don’t know the meaning of the word _surprise?”_ She tutted, flicking his nose, “You done?”

  Remus checked his wand, then nodded, “Yep, all ready.”

“Sik!” she grabbed his hand, vaulting her bed and dragging him through tunnels to the surface. She whistled, and her bike landed at their feet.

  She jumped on, revving the engine, but Remus hung back. It was very late, and from what he could tell nobody knew where they were going – fuck, even he didn’t. Catcher turned to him, “Well? You comin’ or not?”

 Remus glanced back at the Burrow, checked his phone and wand, and then shrugged. He jumped onto the bike, familiar now with where to hold on, and muttered a prayer under his breath. They took off.

They flew in silence, as Catcher didn’t care for idle small-talk and Remus was busy trying to keep himself awake and calm. After what must have been a mile of flying he asked, “Catcher, are you sure you can’t tell me where we’re headed?”

Catcher snorted, “See for yourself!”

Remus peered over Catcher’s shoulder and saw they were riding towards the white lights on the horizon – Battery City.

“What?” Remus tightened his grip around Catcher’s middle, “Why are we going there? Are you sending me back? Did I do something wrong? Is it the wolf? _Is it?”_

 “What? No! Of course not! Those bastards would have to fuckin’ wrench you from my cold dead arms!” When Remus’ grip didn’t relax, Catcher took one of his hands in hers, and her voice softened, “I promise, Moony, I’d never let anything bad happen to you. Fuck, if it came to that I’d just rise from the dead and ghost them Exterminators or Dracs or whoever, wouldn’t I?”

 Remus sighed, squeezing Catcher’s hand and resting his head in the crook of her neck so he could see the way head, “So, why are we going to Bat City then?”

 “Okay, you’ve twisted my hand, I’ll ruin the surprise. We’re getting your books. And your photos of your dad, _and_ Pest’s super special coming of age gift you mentioned.”

 “Uh,” Remus frowned, “Catcher, this is really dangerous. There’s just two of us, does anyone else even know we’re here?”

Catcher nodded, “Course! Cal knows where we’re headed, and I told Snitch I’m taking you out tonight, I can call zir if we need zir.”

 Remus sighed, rolling his eyes, “Catcher, if you get yourself killed tonight I will raise you from the dead to kill you again, and then I’ll summon your spirit, and I’ll slap your spirit around the face.”

“I don’t think you can slap spirits, Iggy,”

“I don’t give a fuck, I’ll do it anyway.”

  Catcher laughed, and Remus smiled. As always, that laugh outshone any doubts that sat in the pit of his stomach.

* * *

 

“Okay,” Catcher whispered, hand on Remus’ back as they huddled around the door from the small concrete balcony, “You got it?”

Remus pointed the wand at the lock, whispering _alohamora_ , and heard a click. He nodded, “Got it.” He felt a strange tingling all over, and tried to put it down to adrenaline, ignoring the feeling that something was very wrong.

“Okay,” Catcher pushed the door open, and they crept inside. The air was musty and stale, with a faint familiarity about it, but it seemed safe. Remus lit his wand, approaching his old mattress.

He froze at a muffled sound and whirled around. Catcher had disappeared. “Padfoot?” he whispered.

He waited, and sighed, “Look, this isn’t funny, Pads. Where even are you?” He turned slowly, and yelled. A large and intimidating Pig loomed over him and he stumbled back, falling onto the mattress.

“Wondered when you’d turn up, come for your filthy books,” the Pig hissed, “Where’s the wand?”

  Remus couldn’t remember what spell he’d used when he thrust the wand at the Pig, holding it like a gun. They flew across the room, colliding with the wall with a crash.

“Boss- agh!” Remus heard a zap, and Catcher jumped up from behind the kitchen counter, running to Remus’ side.

“Well, that coulda been-” The front door fell inwards and armed Pigs spilled into the flat. Catcher laughed nervously, “Worse.”

She jumped in front of Remus, “Get the stuff, I’ll deal with this!”

“Are you kidding?” Remus yelled, shooting curses under her arms, “Even you can’t take this lot!” He didn’t bother hiding the panic from his voice, and neither had Catcher, he was sure.

“No, Moony,” Catcher shoved him back down onto the mattress, “Get the stuff! _We need the Golden Snitch!”_

    Remus nodded, pulling up the mattress as a shield as he pulled out his phone, texting Snitch their coordinates and the clear and detailed message, ‘PADS FUCED UP. WERE GONNA DIE. SNED MARARERS!!!’

 He tried to lower the mattress, but only narrowly escaped having a hole burnt through his head. Fuck it, while he was here… He tugged up the loose floor-panel, stuffing whatever he could get his hands on into his pockets. When he saw his moment, he threw the mattress down and joined Catcher in the fight, swinging with the studded end of his cane as well as throwing curses this way and that. He lost track of time as they fought, back to back, pulling each other from certain death again and again.

* * *

 

Remus heard a loud clatter, and Snitch burst through the balcony door on a broom. Ze chucked a bottle at the mass of Pigs and grabbed Remus and Catcher by their scruffs, hurling them outside. The second they had left the balcony, the entire flat exploded, and Remus felt the heat of it smart his skin.

Catcher whistled for her bike and she and Remus leapt on, following Snitch closely. They flew so fast, Remus swore if it weren’t for magic they’d have hit the red line. He buried his face in Catcher’s back and let himself cry and shake, promising himself that he was safe now so long as he clung onto her tight enough.

* * *

 

They landed beneath an overpass, where Chem leant against the car with her arms crossed, looking like death. Even Pest looked angry, its hands clenched around the wheel. Snitch landed beside them, wringing the handle of zir broom.

Catcher landed the bike at a distance, making no move to dismount. Remus dared to move a hand up to her chest, and felt that her heart was hammering far harder than his own.

“Well?” Chem called, “Whose bright idea was this?”

“Me,” Catcher muttered.

“I’m sorry, what was that?” they snapped.

  Catcher spoke up, “It was my idea, Chem.” She pulled Remus off herself, stepping from the bike and towards the car, “Underdog had no idea ‘til it was too late. This is all on me.”

“And why exactly?”

“I- He’d left something behind, sentimental value, I wanted to make him happy.” She stood up straight, and extremely stiff, shoulders back and head bowed.

Chem stepped forward, hand raised, and the beginnings of scorn curled on their lips when Catcher pleaded, “No! No, don’t yell at me. Do not yell at me! Please don’t yell at me.” Panic raised her voice a whole octave. She paused, and when she spoke again it was like she was reciting a script, “This is between me and Underdog, it’s his life I endangered and it’s his right and his alone to deal with this. We’re adults, we’re responsible, we can deal with this.” Chem looked back at Snitch, who shrugged. “Just leave us here,” Catcher continued, “I can get us back. Underdog will call if he needs to. I’ll make sure we’re back before dawn.”

“Fine,” Chem sighed, throwing up their arms and climbing into the car, “Fine, whatever! You do you, Catcher!”

    “Dog,” Pest called, “Don’t go easy on her, alright?” Snitch took off, and Pest drove the car after zir.

Catcher sat down on the concrete slope of the underpass, hugging her knees, “Alright, Underdog. Go. Unleash hell.”

Remus climbed off the bike, standing in front of it. He stared at Catcher – he had never seen her so scared, and she was scared far more often than she cared to admit. He could see her hands shaking in the starlight. She began biting her thumb, as if that would still them.

“Did you know that would happen?” Remus asked.

Catcher shook her head, “I would never have gone if I had any idea there’d be someone waiting for us.”

“Did you check?”

She paused. “To some extent.”

“What extent?”

  “Asked around, scanned the news, checked for any local arrests or disturbances in the area where we picked you up.”

“And?”

  “And there was nothing. Absolutely nothing. The entire town seemed to have carried on like normal. I never saw that coming, Underdog. If I had… I’d never put you in danger like that.”

Remus sighed, sitting down beside Catcher. She flinched, not looking up from her hands. “Then it was an accident.”

Catcher looked at him, face blank, “You’re not angry with me?”

“Really, right now, I’m just happy to be alive.”

“I’m sorry, Iggy, I’m so so sorry,” she shook her head, tucking her hair behind her ears – a nervous habit Remus had grown fond of.

“Apology accepted, Padfoot. I forgive you, it was just a mistake.”

She kept shaking her head, “You shouldn’t forgive me, Moony. I was impulsive and self-serving and irredeemably stupid, and if you keep forgiving me I’ll never learn! I’ll never learn and I’ll be a twit forever, and I’ll keep hurting you, and-”

“Horseshit!” Catcher jumped at Remus’ raised voice, and he instantly softened it again, “It’s clear to me that you’ve already learnt, and you’re sorry, and I want to forgive you. That’s my right, that’s my choice. Alright?” Remus slowly put his hand on Catcher’s, and she didn’t flinch, “You’re good, StarCatcher, you’re very very good.” He grinned, “Not so sure about nice.”

Catcher chuckled, and it grew from there, far beyond the laugh Remus’ quip deserved, until it was her dog-like bark of a laugh that he loved so much, that contagious laugh. They both fell back, rolling about laughing, and Catcher knitter her fingers into his. They turned to each other, nose to nose, and the laughter petered out.

“You know,” Catcher breathed, “There is one last problem we have here.”

“Only _one?”_

 Catcher smiled, “Had this been a success, our little ‘heist,’ it would’ve been my grand gesture to ask you out with.”

“Oh thank goodness!” Remus rolled his eyes, “I thought I was imagining things! You don’t need a grand gesture to ask me out, Catcher.”

She shrugged, “It’s what I do. But hey, now it’s back to the drawing board. Pretend I never said anything.”

“You know…” Remus sat up, rootling through his pockets, “I’d hardly call tonight a failure, Pads.” He unloaded his loot in the space between them: a framed photo of his family, a faded newspaper clipping, a sneakoscope, and a small wooden box. Catcher stared at it and laughed.

She picked up the photo. The glass was cracked, but inside the photo the young Remus still laughed as his parents tossed him into the air. Mr Lupin was a wiry man in every way; from his stature and build to his hair to the glasses that perched precariously on his long pointy nose. Remus had that nose. Mrs Lupin was quite the opposite of her husband; all curves where he was angles. She had Remus’ hair; thick, brown, and loosely curly.

Catcher propped herself up with an arm, shaking her head, “You all look so happy,” she breathed, “Are you _sure_ these are really your parents?”

“If they weren’t, do you think they’d still keep me after I got bit?”

Catcher shrugged, “It seems 100 times as plausible to me.” Remus smiled, taking the photo from her and returning it to his pocket.

“Well, since that was a success, I s’pose I might as well do this,” Catcher leant forward to kiss Remus. She stopped half way there, waiting for Remus to meet her in the middle.

Today, he had celebrated, and then probably ruined, his sibling’s birthday, nearly died, and retrieved treasured items he thought lost forever. So, what the fuck, why not? He closed his eyes, and he pressed his lips against hers.

They kissed, and there, underneath a crumbling overpass, as the crickets chirped and polluted air slowly killed them both, Ignition Underdog wished to stay forever.

 


	12. the Youngest Daughter of the House of Black

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Remus’ shoulders dropped, and he stared at him. He had put his foot in it, great. He never saw anything of the House of Black in Cal, but perhaps he hadn’t looked close enough, or perhaps this was how his mother had behaved when the cameras were put away; smiling like Cal, laughing his laugh.
> 
> Remus and Calamity Kid share an intimate moment, and Dr Death Defying plants seeds of doubt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW mothers, death mentions

Remus was making his way to the wardrobe department, because he had burnt a large gash in his shirt on the last patrol. It was one of the few times Remus had spent away from Catcher in the three weeks since that night at the overpass; she was sure the ambush had been to do with the wand, and that to let Remus out of her sight would be to betray him. Still, after patrols, she took to disappearing. Remus didn’t mind; he loved her, and was happy, and she always turned up soon enough to listen to him read.

When he entered the wardrobe department he froze. Sat atop the shoe pile was Andromeda Black. Remus shook his head, hoping he was mistaken, but he knew it wasn’t Cal by her nose, and the eldest daughter of the House of Black sat before him – in jeans and a T-shirt, no less.

Instinctively, his hands closed around his wand, “What are you doing here?” he asked, unable to keep the panic from his voice.

Andromeda turned to him, face perplexed, then she laughed, “Oh, right! What’s up, Dog?” She spoke with Cal’s voice.

Remus frowned, “Calamity Kid?”

Cal jumped down from the pile, “The one and only! Whatyousayin’?”

Remus shook his head, “Why do you look like Andromeda Black?”

Cal’s smile faded, and he hugged himself, “Wanted to try an’ remember what she looked like, innit.”

“I don’t get it, don’t you mean Sirius Black? He’s the one that’s dead. If you want to see Andromeda all you have to do is turn on the TV or open a gossip magazine.”

Cal shook his head, “They’re photoshopped. She looked different through a lens, she don’t look right.”

“Wait, have you met her? I thought you grew up in the Zones.”

Cal shrugged, not looking at Remus, “She’s my mum.”

 Remus’ shoulders dropped, and he stared at him. He had put his foot in it, great. He never saw anything of the House of Black in Cal, but perhaps he hadn’t looked close enough, or perhaps this was how his mother had behaved when the cameras were put away; smiling like Cal, laughing his laugh.

“I had no idea,” Remus said.

“Today’s her birthday. I had to learn that from the TV, I’d forgotten it.”

“I’m sorry, Cal.”

Cal looked up at him and smiled, his nose grew and his hair turned pink. His smile was the kind Remus saw Andromeda Black give to the cameras, “No worries, bruv. What you here for, then?”

“Oh, yeah, right!” Remus started rummaging through the racks, “Just needed a new top.”

  “I dunno, man, I think you should stick with that burnt one, it’s got like a belly window. Sexy,” Cal laughed, climbing back up his shoe pile.

Remus rolled his eyes, “Hey, don’t let StarCatcher know who your mum is, yeah? She wants to, like, kill every Black Family Member in existence.”

Cal snorted, “She’s known for yonks!”

* * *

 

As Remus wandered the tunnels from wardrobe to the library he found his path blocked by the tall Killjoy he’d seen with Dr Death. She smiled at him, and it was a kind smile, “Hello, Ignition Underdog, I’m Alleycat.” Scottish, wow. Scotland had been a frozen wasteland for near a decade.

Remus nodded, “I know,” he stood on his tiptoes, trying to see past her, “Um, sorry, I’ve got to be somewhere.”

“We only need a moment of your time,” Dr Death Defying was sat behind Alleycat, and she stepped aside to let him talk. Remus’ hand jumped to his wand and Dr Death laughed, “Ah, I see you already know what I want to talk to you about.”

“Yeah, and I’ve made my stance on the matter fairly clear,” Remus glanced behind himself, figuring out the other routes to the library.

“Well, StarCatcher did. I wondered if, away from her, you would think differently.”

“I trust her judgement,” He said.

“I’m sure, I’m sure. You’re close, she picked you up – it’s only natural. But was it not her judgement that caused your Clap with the Pigs earlier this month?” Dr Death said. It was not a question.

Remus stared at him, “How do you know about that?”

Dr Death shrugged, “Word travels, Ignition Underdog. And a lot of it gets its way to me.” Remus feared what else had made its way to him. “I have it on high authority that when BL/ind identified wand use, they raided the home of every citizen that had disappeared from the area that day. They kept watch on your flat because they found spellbooks.”

Remus nodded, “They did. The Pig said something about books, he must have meant the spellbooks; I couldn’t find them.”

Dr Death nodded sagely, “Do you see now, Ignition Underdog, what happens when wands aren’t properly protected? When they’re in the hands of youth such as yourself, who would be better off burning rubber and being carefree than protecting such a sought after weapon.”

Remus’ grip on his wand tightened, “If I hadn’t had the wand, I would have died.”

  Dr Death shrugged, “True. But if you hadn’t had the wand, you would never have been in any danger,” he fixed Remus with his steely blue gaze, and Remus wished greatly to look away, “Remember that.”

  Dr Death looked away, waving a hand, “Well, anyway, we won’t keep you any longer, I know StarCatcher is unfamiliar with patience. Be seeing you, Ignition Underdog.” Dr Death Defying wheeled off up the tunnel with Alleycat in tow.

Remus kept his hand on his wand the rest of the way to the library, and hoped that the sight of Catcher’s face would still the doubts forming in his mind.

 


	13. Doubt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Remus hated to admit it, but one month on, after a full moon, he sat in the library and pondered doubts about his relationship with Catcher. He knew he loved her, he loved her like the moon loved the sun, like King Arthur had loved Lady Guinevere; to the ends of the earth – He was just unsure if he deserved to.
> 
> Remus is doing a Remus, and Petrol Pest is acting odd.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW pregnancy mention, drugs talk, withdrawal
> 
> i had two weeks of midterm exams, so i lost track of if i posted a chapter a week, so i just posted 3 at once just in case. enjoy!

Remus hated to admit it, but one month on, after a full moon, he sat in the library and pondered doubts about his relationship with Catcher. He knew he loved her, he loved her like the moon loved the sun, like King Arthur had loved Lady Guinevere; to the ends of the earth – He was just unsure if he deserved to.

She had stayed with him before the moon, when he was too sick to do much, and told him jokes and laughed, leaving when Remus felt the wolf drive him to anger and he warned her to. And she had stayed with him as he healed his wounds, helping him make patches for his jacket and making a soppy display of kissing all his cuts and bruises. He wondered if she had ever needed to give up so much time for Snitch, if Remus was a burden to her.

His father had never told him outright what he thought of werewolves, but he remembered being a small child and crying because he wouldn’t look at him anymore. He had learnt from a young age that he was very hard to love, and not worth the effort. His parents had loved him because they were bound by blood, and even then, only to an extent. And Petrol Pest? Well… Peter had needed protection and kindness, and Remus offered those willingly.

Remus got up, deciding that if anyone were to understand what he was going through, it would be Pest. If it couldn’t give advice, at least it would lend a sympathetic ear.

* * *

 

 Remus found Pest where he always did; the garage. It had lifted the hood of the Marauders’ car, and was tinkering away. Remus knocked on the bonnet, saying ‘k-nock k-nock’ like his father did.

Pest huffed, wiping oil from his face and only smearing more across it, “Hey, Remus.” The name felt weird after so long being Ignition Underdog.

“Hi, Peter,” Remus replied, and it winced, “Uh, I was wondering if I could talk to you about something?” He leant on the car, twiddling his thumbs.

“Sure, sure,” Pest muttered, focused on something to do with the engine.

“It’s about me and Catcher,” Remus paused, hearing Pest groan, “It’s just… I love her, but I don’t think I should. I’m not exactly ideal boyfriend material, you know? My main concern is of course the lycanthropy. It’s probably greatly unsafe for me to be that close to anyone, and… oh hell!” Remus ran a hand through his hair,

  “Remus-”

“What if she wants kids one day? I don’t think I could even do that, what if they turn out all furry and shit? Plus, I _hate_ babies! And I'd be a terrible dad! Wait, who am I kidding? Catcher? Kids? Pff-”

“Moony!” Pest shouted. Remus stood up, turning to look at it. “No offence, mate, but I really don’t care about your love life, alright?”

Remus frowned, staring at him, “I just you’d understand, since you’ve known me longest. You’re my sibling, you know that.”

 Pest sighed, “I-” It yelped as the bonnet fell on its head.

   Remus jumped, “Shit, are you okay?”

Pest slammed the bonnet down, shouting at Remus, “Fuck off!”

  Remus hurried out of the garage, hearing the sound of tools being thrown as he fled. He had never seen Pest that on edge, and had no idea what had caused it. He remembered how jumpy it had been that first week, how its hands shook from want of the rat poison, how it had jumped on cigarettes after the clean week was over. Maybe this was just a relapse, and it would pass. He’d have to pay more attention from now on.

 


	14. the Marauders' Map

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Man, magic blows!” Snitch sighed, throwing another book onto the pile. Remus had dragged both zir and Catcher to the library, where they scanned all the books for spells they could use on the Map.
> 
> “I hope you marked your finding,” Remus muttered, not looking up.
> 
> The making of the Marauders' Map.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter doesnt include petrol pest bc its busy doing smth else, and also is Not that good at magic so not much use
> 
> chem just isnt involved in the map bc they dont? care abt it that much its jus one of snitch's games to them

Snitch hunted Remus down where he was helping Cal in wardrobe, organizing jackets by colour and size while Catcher dozed beside him. Ze shoved the rack aside, grinning down at him, “Hey Moonface!”

 Remus threw the jackets aside with a shrug, “Alright, Prongs?”

 “Oh, more than alright, fam. The map, it’s finished!”

    Remus stood up, “What, really?”

  Snitch nodded, laughing, “Yeah! It’s all drawn up. And…” ze leant on a rack, “That’s where you come in.”

Remus folded his arms, “Oh yeah?”

“Uh huh! For the map to reach its full intended potential, we need magic!”

  Catcher sat up, rubbing her eyes, “Someone say magic?”

Snitch laughed, “Whey, I didn’t see you there, Padfoot!”

Remus nodded, “Yeah, Snitch’s finished the Marauders Map and it needs enchanting.”

  Catcher clambered to her feet, throwing her arm around Remus, “Then what the fuck are we waiting for?”

* * *

 

“Man, magic blows!” Snitch sighed, throwing another book onto the pile. Remus had dragged both zir and Catcher to the library, where they scanned all the books for spells they could use on the Map.

      “I hope you marked your finding,” Remus muttered, not looking up.

“You got a wand- Ow!” Snitch rubbed zir shin where Catcher had kicked zir for being too loud, “Plus, like, you’re _you!_ I thought you’d just know how to do this.”

Remus shrugged, marking a spell, “This is really, really, _really_ complicated magic, Prongs. This’d give Merlin himself a headache, if you ask me.”

“And we’re gonna crack it,” Catcher smirked, “Move aside Merlin, the Marauders just outshone you.”

“Nah, for that we’d have to help some next king bring peace and harmony to the kingdom,” Snitch shook zir head, “The monarchy fell time ago, and I can’t really see ‘peace and harmony’ ever working in the _Zones!”_

Catcher grimaced, “It’d be so dead!”

  “I don’t hear many pages turning, you two,” Remus said.

  Snitch rolled zir eyes, pulling up another book, “Sorry, _Chem!”_ Remus laughed.

Eventually, they had developed a collection of spells to try, and carried the books back to their room. Catcher had insisted on her and Snitch carrying the majority of them, and Remus was glad, because he didn’t know how to use a cane with a mountain of books in his hands.

As they worked, they mulled over ideas for a password.

“Kill all Pigs,” Catcher suggested,

“Slaughter all Draculoids,” Snitch countered,

“Nah. That can be the words to close the map.”

  Remus shook his head, “They’re all too obvious, and none of them are Marauders-y enough.”

Snitch tilted his head back, “We should ask Chem, they’d think of something Marauders-y.”

Catcher laughed, doing an impression of Chem, “How about ‘Prongs smells and can’t kiss for shit’?”

Snitch shoved her, doing zir own impression, “‘Padfoot takes a day to wash her hair, and never washes the rest of her’”

“I’ll have you know I wash thoroughly!” Catcher feigned indignation. Snitch looked to Remus for confirmation.

He shook his head, “She always forgets her feet.”

“They’re s’posed to wash themselves! They’re right there, in the water!”

Remus rolled his eyes, “We’re getting side-tracked.”

“Okay then,” Snitch said, “Moony, you think of a password.”

He sat up, pushing the book from his lap, “Something marauders-y? Hmm…” He looked around the room, “‘I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.’”

Catcher and Snitch exchanged glances, then nodded, “Yeah,” Snitch said, “That sounds about right.”

“I doubt anyone’d guess that. Closing words?”

Remus scratched his head, thinking, “How about… ‘Mischief managed’?”

Catcher grinned, slapping Remus on his shoulder, “You are a fuckin’ genius, Moonshine! I love you.”

* * *

 

After only two small fires and one minor injury (Catcher lost an eyebrow, she made a very big fuss about it) they were sure they had finished.

“Alright, Moony,” Snitch rubbed zir hands together, staring at the blank sheet, “Do the honours.”

Remus held his wand to the paper and said, “I solemnly swear I am up to no good.”

 Before their eyes lines began uncurling across the page, detailing the roads and crossings of Battery City, then the ring of Route Guano, the many roads that branched from it out to the edges of the Zones and beyond, all the way to the other cities. Snitch and Catcher whooped and cheered, clapping Remus on the back.

On the map Remus could make out the Burrow with all its tunnels, Hyper-Thrust, and the overpass where Catcher had kissed him. He leant close, nearly pressing his nose to the paper, and could make out three tiny dots sat around a large map in the heart of the Burrow. The words around them read Golden Snitch, Ignition Underdog, and StarCatcher.

Names had proven extremely hard, and Remus had needed to perform many complicated manoeuvres to protect people’s privacy. He was very proud of his work, even if now and then the names flickered and changed, too fast to read anything.

Snitch pulled away from hugging Catcher, smacking a kiss on her cheek, “Alright lads, tonight we celebrate; tonight we are getting fuckin’ hammered! On me!”

Remus smiled, and held his wand to the map once more, “Mischief Managed.”

* * *

 

When they finally crawled into bed, more than a little tipsy and very tired, it was long past midnight. Chem snapped at them for waking them, but was quelled by the news of the Map.

Catcher turned out the lights, and they all settled down. Remus had only just closed his eyes when he heard a whisper of lumos and the rustle of paper.

He sat up and watched Catcher lie on the floor across the map, staring at it. He wondered if she was looking for the small Draculoid from months ago. He turned over, deciding to sleep and forget about it. It was her own business.

 


	15. Quidditch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Catcher groaned and turned back to the mic, “It appears, Killjoys, that I’ve just been kicked for being ‘biased,’ so sorry for the interruption. The Burrow Boggarts, consisting of Golden Snitch, Chemical Wonder, and Fire Bolt as brilliant chasers, Gasoline Revenge as one fuck of a seeker, beaters Longshot and Danger Head, and the secret weapon: Calamity Kid in goal!” Cal waved his arms at the crowd, stretching them to unrealistic lengths, and the Southerners booed, “I’m sorry, south side, but yes that is completely legal!”
> 
> Grudge match between the Burrow Killjoys and Killjoys from the south Zones.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cw: fire at the end, death mention
> 
> sorry its a bit late! wout school i have no concept of time

Snitch woke the Marauders bright and early one day and they ate on the road. It wasn’t a patrol day, and even so the sun had barely peaked over the muddy brown horizon, but this didn’t confuse Remus; this day had been planned for months now. This was the annual Quidditch match against a southern gang of Killjoys from a place they called New Diagon Alley.

It was horribly cold in the early morning desert and Remus huddled close to Catcher, listening to her and Snitch discuss tactics. He knew very little about Quidditch, and wasn’t that fussed about sports, but he was friends with the whole team, and the commentator was Catcher.

“This is gonna be fuckin’ banter!” Snitch had said when Catcher told zir, tugging her into a crushing hug, “You gotta pull out all the stops for this, okay babes? If we can’t beat these fuckers with skill alone, you gotta make them laugh ‘til they die!”

Catcher laughed, tousling zir already messy curls, “It’s you I’m worried about, Prongs. You’ll be laughing too hard to hold onto your broom!”

They arrived at the pitch as the sun began to peak in the sky, searing the heavy frost from the ground. The others went to change, and Catcher led Pest and Remus up the rickety iron bleachers, to a box at the very top, “This is where we sit. Best seats, innit?” She tugged a microphone from her bag and hooked it up to the wire that climbed the bleachers, “Half the reason I took the job.”

Remus sat down, testing the metal – it was hard to tell if it hurt to touch because it was too cold, or too hot. Either way, he put his jacket down over it. “What’s the other half?”

Catcher shrugged, leaning on the railings and nodding across the pitch. From a box on the other side, Dr Death Defying nodded back, “Him. See, the match commentary gets played on Killjoy radio. Usually Death does it, but fuck that. He gets enough airplay as it is!”

Remus rolled his eyes – Catcher’s grudge against Dr Death seemed almost childish to him now.

 The bleachers filled out with Killjoys, mostly sitting with their own side; Southerners south side and Northerners north side. Remus failed to tell the difference by outfit; Killjoys all looked different, but the same in some ways.

 Both teams filed onto the pitch, and the crowd erupted into cheering and clapping and a gunshot here and there. Catcher’s voice rang out over the din, “Welcome, one and all, Dust Angels and Motor Babies, Zone Hoppers and Crash Queens, to the third annual Bat City Zones Grudge Match!”

“From the north,” Catcher continued, and their team waved, “The Burrow Boggarts. The best Quidditch team from here to, well, anywhere- Ow!” Remus shoved Catcher and she turned to him,

“What was that for, Moony?”

“Don’t be biased, you’re the commentator!”

Catcher groaned and turned back to the mic, “It appears, Killjoys, that I’ve just been kicked for being ‘biased,’ so sorry for the interruption. The Burrow Boggarts, consisting of Golden Snitch, Chemical Wonder, and Fire Bolt as brilliant chasers, Gasoline Revenge as one fuck of a seeker, beaters Longshot and Danger Head, and the secret weapon: Calamity Kid in goal!” Cal waved his arms at the crowd, stretching them to unrealistic lengths, and the Southerners booed, “I’m sorry, south side, but yes that is completely legal!”

“And now, the Diagon Alley Cats – who, honestly, could’a given the Chudley Cannons a run for their- HEY!” Remus had poked her in the side. She huffed, “The Diagon Alley Cats, from south side!” The Cats waved. Their uniforms were all the same; diagonal red and black stripes, and domino masks. They looked strange next to the multi-coloured chaos of the Boggarts. Catcher listed their names, rushing through it a bit.

“Alright, Killjoys, on your marks…” a Killjoy in black and white ran onto the pitch, releasing the balls, “GO!”

The game was a nonsensical blur to Remus, punctuated only by Cal inflating himself to the size of the goal whenever the ball came his way, and basking in the glory of south side’s disapproval. This basking would come back to haunt him, though, when several balls got through while he was taunting the crowd.

Biased as it may be, Snitch was right to say Catcher’s commentary made the game far more entertaining, and eventually he stopped telling her off for putting the Cats down – he was too busy laughing.

Something like an hour later, the game ended when Gasoline Revenge caught the snitch – the real one, not the Boggarts’ chaser – and while Catcher yelled draer praises, drae was covered with a pile of young Killjoys with the same flaming red hair. It was common knowledge that the Wellard mother never let any of her children dye their hair; it was the only way she could find them in a crowd.

Catcher soon abandoned her mic, climbing down the bleachers to show Snitch some well earnt affection. She picked zir off the ground, whirling zir around and planting kisses all over zir face, until Chem had to shimmy their way between them for their turn.

The celebrations were cut short, however, by the whirr of a S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W drone. The Killjoys dissipated, and Catcher clambered back to Remus’ side, disapparating them to a safe distance, under cover of a barn. The other Marauders soon joined them in the car, followed closely by Longshot, Danger Head, and Cal on brooms. They watched the Quidditch pitch go up in flames, and had no idea who got away, and if anyone they knew had been dusted. They hid in the barn until the whirr had faded away into the horizon, and Remus had never felt so cold in all his life.

 

 


	16. Coming of Age

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Remus stared out to the other side of the estuary, where huge chimneys spat fumes into the sky, adding to the murky brown that clouded the horizon. “What’s it like, y’think,” he said, “Beyond the Zones?”
> 
> Catcher shrugged, “Not much different from the Zones, really. Just less people.” She tossed a chip into the air, catching it in her mouth, “What was it like in Circuit Lake?” Cardiff, Remus thought. He’d always called it Cardiff.
> 
> Remus turns 17, woohoo!

Remus awoke to Catcher’s gentle kisses across his face. This was strange; normally, Catcher woke far earlier than Remus, messing around as a dog until she grew bored enough to wake the others as rudely as possible. Remus sat up, kissing her on the cheek, “What’s the occasion?” He looked at his watch and his eyes widened; it was almost midday!

Catcher laughed, “Happy birthday, Moony!” Remus turned to her, “Pest told us.”

He grinned, “’Course.” He looked around the room, “Wait, where’s everyone else?”

  Catcher shrugged, “I toggled it so you had the day off to do whatever you like,” she smirked, “The rest have to work as usual, though.”

“Oh? And what about you?” Remus ran a hand through her hair, pushing it from her eyes.

“Please,” she scoffed, “Nobody can make me do anything I don’t fancy.” She hugged him tighter, resting her head on his chest, “So, you can do absolutely whatever you want today, and obviously I’m sticking with you, so what you fancy?” Remus tilted his head back, thinking. “If you say library I will break up with you right here.”

* * *

 

       Remus had decided that they should go out, east, to somewhere on the edge of the Zones that had once been called Southend. It was fairly close to the Burrow, for it had been convenient before the train tracks were bombed and the Thames all but dried up completely. It was still there, flowing into the sea, if you travelled over a few miles of bone dry mud and sand. Still, it had sea air, and the wind whipped Remus’ hair out of his face.

He had never been here as a human, and everything looked different and new. When they explored this place on a full moon, Prongs had kept them all from going out too far, suspicious of the old power-plants across the estuary. Now, with just him and Catcher, they were free to explore as they wished.

Remus unlocked the gates to the old theme park that sat beside the pier and they made their way inside with caution. Once they were sure – very sure – the coast was clear, they became adventurous, scaling rollercoasters and trying to magic the rides into working. None of them did. They climbed to the top of the Ferris wheel, and sat on the roof of the highest carriage to eat the chips Catcher had packed.

Remus stared out to the other side of the estuary, where huge chimneys spat fumes into the sky, adding to the murky brown that clouded the horizon. “What’s it like, y’think,” he said, “Beyond the Zones?”

Catcher shrugged, “Not much different from the Zones, really. Just less people.” She tossed a chip into the air, catching it in her mouth, “What was it like in Circuit Lake?” _Cardiff_ , Remus thought. He’d always called it Cardiff.

“It’s not that different to Bat City. Wetter. There’s Zones there too, full of hills and sheep.”

  Catcher laughed, “Killjoy farmers!”

  “I dunno, I always thought the sheep were wild. Maybe they weren’t.”

 Catcher sat up, screwing up the greasy paper and tossing it into the nettles growing at the fence of the theme park. Remus frowned, shaking his head. Catcher wiped her hands on her leggings, “You know what we should do? You know what would be both dangerous and shiny?”

Remus shook his head, “No, what?” There were many things it could be.

Catcher grinned and pointed out to the pier, which stretched on for miles, “We should explore that!”

* * *

 

The walk down the pier was long and arduous, and after a while of navigating rotten wood planks, and after a while Remus’ bad leg was burning with pain. Catcher stopped, noticing this, and carried him over her shoulder, ignoring Remus’ laughter-filled protests. When they reached the end of the pier, it widened out, and Catcher put Remus down. The edges of the pier fell away, indicating that it had once been much wider.

They were very careful as they explored the end of the pier, testing every plank first, and Catcher kept an iron grip on Remus’ hand. They passed the remains of what might have been a café, glass panels smashed in, and found a small wooden hut that looked charred and unstable.

Remus crossed his fingers, praying Catcher wouldn’t try to go inside it. Instead, she ran her hands against the wood, examining it. There were markings in it, too warped by fire damage to make out. They increased in number as they worked their way around, and the back of the hut was covered in them. Remus leant close, squinting, and read out, “Alysia + Dan forever.” His fingers traced along the heart either Alysia or Dan must have carved into the wood some ten years ago. He wondered about them, had their forever stood the test of the fires? The war? The Purge? Perhaps these were the names of two people he had seen, making their way around the Burrow, hiding behind new names.

“There’s loads of ‘em,” Catcher said, “Little tokens of couples. Kids making their mark,” She laughed, “Cute! Really fuckin’ cute.” She nudged Remus, smiling at him, “We should do one!”

Remus nodded, “You got a knife?”

Catcher frowned, “No…” She looked around, thinking, “Use your wand, innit.”

  “Yeah alright,” He took it out, searching for a good place to carve. He found a spot that was clear enough, and tapped against the wood, thinking. Names, as always, were difficult. He’d love to put his real name up here, but didn’t know how he was supposed to ask Catcher hers. _‘I don’t ever want to be connected to that place.’_

 He remembered signs he’d seen drawn about the Burrow, like bastardized Mousekats – the BL/ind mascot. He smiled, and started carving.

Catcher sat beside him, watching him, taking in every way he had changed in his time in the Zones – it was approaching a year. He was taller, just a bit, and his voice was lower (“Still really high, though.” Catcher laughed, “And hoarse!”) His hair had grown out and been cut again and again, and a blue streak had joined the red one in his fringe.

Remus finished the carving and sat back, brushing the shavings away and smiling. Catcher’s fingers traced the markings; two circles, overlapping slightly, inside them a wolf beside the crescent of the moon, and a dog surrounded by stars. Beneath them, Remus had carved the word ‘Always.’

Catcher smiled, turning to Remus, her eyes were watery. She squeezed his hand and tilted her head, “You’ve got freckles.”

Remus laughed, “I’ve always had freckles.”

“Yeah, but now you’re like, _covered_ in ‘em! You’re straight up brown, Moony.” She leant in, poking Remus’ face as she counted them. Remus laughed, pushing her hand away gently, but she persisted.

They heard it before they felt it. The entire pier creaked, groaned. They froze. The planks beneath them shook, and everything around them began crumbling into the shallow water.

Catcher pulled Remus to his feet, summoning her bike. She had only pulled Remus on behind her when the pier gave way below them. They flew back to shore, watching rusted metal and rotten wood fall apart. Remus checked his wand, and breathed a sigh of relief.

Catcher looked at him, and he was the first to laugh. His laughter grew, joined by Catcher, and they fell onto the concrete shore and laughed as they tumbled. They lay there for a while, panting on the baking surface, Remus’ hand on Catcher’s chest to feel the rise and fall, the hammer of her heart. The day was growing dim, the sun setting.

Catcher sat up, pulling out her phone, “We should get back.”

“Aw,” Remus pulled a face, “I thought you said I could do what I want, since when did ‘what I want’ come with a curfew?”

Catcher smiled knowingly at Remus, pulling him to his feet, “Believe me, you want to get back.”

 Remus shrugged, letting her fly him home. He rested his head on her back and watched the sky turn lilac.

* * *

 

At the Burrow, Catcher lead Remus to the room the Marauders had taken to spending their free time in together. It was dark in the room, and very quiet, and Remus gripped Catcher’s hand.

“Is he here yet?” Someone whispered – Cal, surely.

“Shhhh!”

Remus looked up at Catcher, frowning with confusion. That was when the lights came on, and his friends jumped from behind sofas, yelling, “HAPPY BIRTHDAY!”

Remus jumped, yelled even, but it was drowned out by the cheers of everyone. He looked around the room, the Marauders were there, along with Cal, Longshot and Danger Head, and Gasoline Revenge and Fire Bolt from the Quidditch team. Fire Bolt was very tall, with no hair and dark skin. Perhaps nineteen. When they spoke, their voice was low and calm, and in their right ear they always had a different earring, and they got cooler every time Remus saw them. Today it had an LED light that changed colour when Bolt shook their head.

They all hugged Remus, and Cal kissed his cheek. He felt his face burn, surprised to be kissed by someone who wasn’t Catcher.

“My sibling Pyro Head was here earlier,” Gasoline explained, “But she had to go distract our mum so I could stay up.” Remus remembered Gasoline was only fourteen, just like Cal. He gathered that kids grew up faster in the Zones; they probably had to.

Cal laughed, “ _My_ dad don’t care how late _I_ stay up!” Cal stuck his tongue out at Gasoline, who pulled a face at him.

There was food, and music, and Cal insisted on a game of musical chairs which ended in Snitch and Cal wrestling for the last chair. Chem broke them up, giving them both their best angry Mama Wellard impression. They were frighteningly good at it.

Finally, as they were all scattered about on sofas and armchairs, time came for presents. Snitch gave Remus an Individual – a very expensive raygun. Ze said it was stolen, so don’t worry, and they’re not even that good, but ze figured that Remus really needed an actual gun.

 From Chem came a small cauldron, “‘Really, Chem, you need to stop using plastic for your potions’” They parroted. Remus gave the cauldron back to them, deciding it would be a far better present if they actually used it.

It was becoming clear that Cal’s expertise lay in joke presents, as Remus found, inside the neatly wrapped box he gave him, a dog’s collar. He laughed, trying it on, and Catcher said he had given her a matching one for her own birthday. Beneath the collar, squashed up in a way that made Remus wince, was a copy of the Hobbit.

Longshot and Danger Head gave another joint present of a cactus – this one was black and slender, called ‘Hideous.’ Gasoline and Bolt, who didn’t know him as well, gave him cigarettes and chocolate frogs.

Then came Pest, with a very strangely shaped gift. Remus weighed it in his hands, curious. When he pulled off the paper a heavy metal object fell into his lap. He held it up to the light; it was made from bolts and sheets of steel, painted blue with yellow glass eyes. An eagle.

“Since you gave me a lion, I thought it was fitting,” Pest explained, “It’s a Ravenclaw eagle, since I think you’re probably a Ravenclaw, and you said your dad was.”

Remus smiled, putting the eagle down on the table and moving it so it caught the light, “I’m a Gryffindor, actually. But it’s beautiful, Pest, I love it.”

 Pest frowned, and Catcher gave Remus a squeeze, “Damn right, red and gold all the way!”

Remus turned to her, “Okay then, where’s your present?”

Catcher slouched into her seat, shaking her head, “Didn’t get you nothin’.”

  Remus folded his arms, tapping his foot, “Padfoot.”

  “Alright, alright,” She got up, “Come with me.”

  Remus looked around the room, and Chem nodded, “It’s alright, this is a Marauders Certified Surprise-”

“TM,” Snitch said,

  “You won’t die,” Chem finished.

 Remus shrugged – good enough for him. He followed after Catcher, who took his hand. She was grinning from ear to ear, and refused to give Remus even a resemblance of a clue the entire bike journey.

 

 


	17. Party Poison

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They stopped at a large storehouse in the western Zones, in which someone seemed to have constructed a stage. Remus wandered up to it, leaning against it. He turned to Catcher, “Okay, you gonna tell me what this is now?” There were a few Killjoys milling about here and there, more were smoking outside.
> 
> Catcher shook her head, still grinning, “Just wait.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapters pretty short, sorry
> 
> cw for the q slur reclaimed and smoking mention

They stopped at a large storehouse in the western Zones, in which someone seemed to have constructed a stage. Remus wandered up to it, leaning against it. He turned to Catcher, “Okay, you gonna tell me what this is now?” There were a few Killjoys milling about here and there, more were smoking outside.

Catcher shook her head, still grinning, “Just wait.”

  Wait Remus did, and the storehouse quickly filled up with more and more Killjoys. Soon, the noise of them all was overwhelming, and he saw Catcher beside him put on her headphones.

Then, Killjoys emerged from a door nearer the stage and began setting up huge speakers and microphones on tall poles. They left again, and were replaced by a new group of Killjoys, all carrying an instrument of some sort.

Remus turned to Catcher, eyes wide, and Catcher nodded, flapping her hands and grinning. Remus had recognised the Killjoy taking centre stage from a poster of Catcher’s. She was the frontwoman of the Weird Sisters – Hail Mary.

She shoved her mic in the air, shaking around her head of bright green curls. The crowd screamed. Then the beat started, and everyone around him jumped up and down, throwing their arms in the air and singing along. The storehouse filled with the smell of sweat and boiled with heat. Remus didn’t care, he threw his arms in the air and sang along at the top of his lungs, and it didn’t matter that he couldn’t hit a note to save his life; nobody could hear him anyway.

   After three songs, however, the music faded out, Mary thanked the crowd, and they left. Remus frowned, looking around. Nobody else made to leave, and concerts weren’t meant to be that short, so what was happening? Catcher put her hand on his shoulder and said, “They’re just the supporting act.”

Catcher was right. After a moment, another four Killjoys came onstage. The frontman had shoulder length hair, which was bright red and looked like it had never been washed. He wore a blue and yellow domino mask, and his jeans were so tight they couldn’t possibly be comfortable. Remus only knew him from the many posters Catcher had of him. Catcher leant forward on the stage, grinning.

The beat started, and the frontman thrust his hand in the air and said, “Up!” Thousands of hands were thrown into the air, some holding guns, some holding lighters or phones, and the crowd cheered. “I’m Party Poison, and I’m here with my three brothers Jet-Star, Fun Ghoul, and the Cobra Kid, and we’re in a band called My Chemical Romance.” More cheering, and Party Poison began singing.

Recognition hit Remus like a truck; this was the band Catcher had played him that first day in the Burrow. The one that had screamed and yelled about gender, and used words like ‘butch’ and ‘queer’ like badges of honour. Remus whirled Catcher around, and flung his arms around her, kissing her as if he’d never kissed her before, and never would again.

They forgot themselves in the music, dancing and kissing and singing along. First, the band played songs from an earlier album Remus had heard less of, Danger Days, which they’d recorded not long after the Helium Wars. Then, they played the songs Remus knew. They sounded entirely new now, in that storehouse, surrounded by warm bodies and standing just feet from the band members themselves. If there was a life after death, Remus hoped it would be something like this.

The concert went on for hours, and when it was done Remus and Catcher got their jackets signed by Party Poison. Remus didn’t mind that his leg felt like it was going to fall off; it was worth it. Finally, after everyone else had left, Remus and Catcher flew away on her bike, and laughed about Party Poison’s sexy hip dance, and sang the songs they’d just heard.

As Catcher sang, Remus’ voice fell away, and he watched her. She sang like an angel, tipping her head back and hitting every note with ease. Her voice slipped through the words like the flow of water, sweet as honey. If Remus hadn’t loved her before, he was sure he loved her now.

 


	18. the Star Catcher

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They stopped at the overpass where they had first kissed. There, they sat on the edge of the overpass, and kissed again. They kissed and kissed, under the moonless sky. When they grew tired of kissing, they looked to the stars, and played a game of naming as many as they could. Catcher was far better at this than Remus, but he only thought it was fair; it was in her name.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> seriously, does anyone know where the star catcher story comes from? i only remember it from when i was like 6 years old
> 
> theres like. one more chapter of this Feelsy Emotional Shit that im sure you all hate (sarc) and then the plot picks up dw
> 
> cw: smoking mention, death mention, pda

They stopped at the overpass where they had first kissed. There, they sat on the edge of the overpass, and kissed again. They kissed and kissed, under the moonless sky. When they grew tired of kissing, they looked to the stars, and played a game of naming as many as they could. Catcher was far better at this than Remus, but he only thought it was fair; it was in her name.

“Umm…” Remus pointed at a fairly bright star, “Bellatrix?”

  “Ha!” Catcher laughed, shoving Remus playfully and bouncing up and down, “Wrong! It’s Scorpius! I win!”

Remus smiled, and released a happy sigh as he leant back, staring at the sky. He swung his legs, “You know, in the last days before the Purge, my father told me a story to do with the stars. And it’s funny, I’ve only just remembered it.”

“Yeah? What was it about?”

“It was about this guy, who travelled the heavens on a comet, with a huge net,” He gave a wry smile, “The Star Catcher.”

“Oh yeah, what they do?”

“Caught stars, of course. Plucked them from the sky. I can’t remember why. One day, though, he went down to Earth, and he met a girl… My father had given her my name, my fake name, the one my mother gave me. And he took her with him, off into the stars, and then…” Remus frowned, “Then he never finished the story.”

Catcher took Remus’ hand, making comforting circles across his palm. Remus sighed, “It’s silly, really, probably just some folk story…” He reached into his pocket, searching for a cigarette, and his hands closed around a wooden box. He had carried it with him since the night he’d salvaged it from the floorboards of his Bat City flat, half forgotten. The coming of age gift he had intended for Petrol Pest.

“Hey,” Remus pulled the box from his pocket, turning to Catcher, “I know it’s a bit backwards, but here.” He opened the box, pulling out a glittering silver watch, “A coming of age present, from me to you.”

 Catcher took the watch, holding it up to the starlight. On its face spun the planets of the solar system, against a backdrop of onyx. It had been passed down through the Lupin family for generations, and it fit Catcher’s wrist perfectly.

 Catcher leant back, hand resting on Remus’. She stared at the stars, tossing her hair back, and said, “Sirius.”

Remus looked back to the stars, “Hmm? Where?”

Catcher shook her head, turning to him again, “No. Sirius is my name. Sirius Black.”

Remus stared at Catcher – at Sirius Black. At the eldest son of the House of Black; the _dead_ son – and felt every star fall from the sky and crash around him. Rumour had it that Sirius Black had died in the Pig Bomb of 2017, although no body was ever found. Many believed that Sirius had been hidden away in shame after he had been caught kissing another boy, others insisted he had fled to the Zones. They were right. Here before him sat Sirius Black, in leather and a skirt, looking absolutely terrified. Thousands of questions filled Remus’ head, causing a pile up at his mouth so nothing escaped.

Sirius turned away, staring at her feet, “I’m sorry.” She paused a moment, then moved to get up. Remus forgot himself.

  He grabbed her hand, pulled her back, and said, “Remus Lupin.” Sirius stared at him, wiping her eyes dry, and then she smiled, and she laughed. It was contagious.

They laughed together, and leant into each other, and they kissed like they had never kissed before; they kissed without secrets.

    In time, they stopped. They sat on the edge of the overpass, holding each other and breathing in the other’s air. Sirius smiled, nudging Remus,

“Hello, Remus Lupin.”

  Remus smiled too, brushing hair from her face, “Hello, Sirius Black.”

 

 


	19. the Most Noble and Ancient House of Black

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Snitch smiled, satisfied, “You know you can never tell anyone, right?”  
> Remus rolled his eyes, walking past Snitch to join Sirius, who’d waved him over, “Obviously.”
> 
> Sirius does some explaining.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> huge cw for descriptions of child abuse and transmisogyny

Remus and Sirius returned to the Burrow very late, and woke up even later. Something felt different now, and everybody noticed.

They stroll down to breakfast late, hands knitted together. Chem smiles knowingly at Remus when they join them in the food hall. Pest looks up from its toast, and nodded to Sirius, “That’s a nice watch, Catcher.”

Remus looked at it, and was surprised when he felt no guilt; the watch had been intended for Pest on its seventeenth birthday. He realised that he had grown apart from his surrogate sibling in the past year, but it wasn’t only his fault; Pest was distant, spending all its time in the garage and paying very little attention to Remus. Maybe they had only been friends out of necessity after all.

Sirius grinned, leaning on Remus, “Moony gave it to me, last night. Right before he told me his _name!”_

Chem gasped, “Really? Oh my days, Remus, did you?”

  Remus smiled, feeling himself flush, “I did. But Catcher said hers first.”

Snitch smirked, swirling zir coffee, “Did she? I bet that was one fuck of a night.”

 Sirius laughed, rolling her eyes, “Obviously!”

* * *

 

After breakfast, Snitch got Remus away from Sirius, cornering him in a quiet tunnel. “So,” zir face was as sombre as Remus had ever seen it, “You know about Sirius.”

Remus raised his eyebrows, “As do you, it seems.”

  Snitch shrugged, pushing up zir glasses, “It was without consent, an accident, but yeah. I do. So…”

Remus frowned, “So?”

  “How do you feel about it?” Ze held Remus in an intense stare.

  “Well, I dunno, it’s a lot to take in. A real shock.”

  Snitch nodded, “True. But does it change how you feel about her?”

Remus thought for a moment. When he looked at Sirius, he still saw Catcher, still saw the reckless Killjoy he’d fallen in love with. Nothing had changed except their intimacy. He shook his head, “It changes nothing.”

Snitch leant forward, “Are you sure? Because if you feel different, you need to do something about it. Don’t let her get hurt, alright? She’s family to me, you hurt her and I hunt you down. Y’getme?”

Remus nodded again, “I promise, I’d never hurt her. What does it matter who she used to be? It’s who she is now that I care about.”

  Snitch smiled, satisfied, “You know you can never tell anyone, right?”

  Remus rolled his eyes, walking past Snitch to join Sirius, who’d waved him over, “Obviously.”

* * *

 

Sirius led Remus to a quiet area on the surface where the sun was less intense, and they sat side by side on the fence.

“Okay, Remus,” Sirius leant her elbows on her knees, staring out across the desert, “Any questions you have about, y’know, the whole Sirius Black thing, shoot.”

Remus stared at her. He knew she was serious, and that this actually made sense, but he couldn’t stop thinking of the interviews with Black Family Members in trashy gossip magazines sold by BL/ind, and wondered if a little of the pampered celebrity still lived inside Sirius. The thought made her smile.

“Okay, well, how did you do it? How did you run away?” Remus asked.

 Sirius sat up, and the glint in her eye told Remus this was a story she loved to relive, “Okay, so like, before I left there was still, like, free internet, right? Like, they didn’t monitor everything back then. So little thirteen year old me’s getting into alternative music. ‘Ventually I found myself on these, like, Killjoy forums!

“So that’s where I met Snitch. Ze showed me the Weird Sisters and My Chemical Romance. And uh… I dunno if it was Party Poison or Snitch zirself what did it, but soon afterwards I clocked I was gay. Fuck, I was so scared. I blocked Snitch and didn’t go on the internet for like a whole month, hoping it’d go away. Obviously, it didn’t,” She laughed dryly.

“Me an’ Snitch got properly close, skyping daily, talking all the time. I complained about my family and Bat City, and ze told me all these stories about life in the Zones. It seemed… cool, dead romantic, y’know?

“And then a year later, well, there ze was! In Bat City! Ze’d broken in to break Chem out, ‘cause ze’d seen them and gone all Golden Snitch – you know, head over heels! So ze’s in town, about to break Chem out, and ze texts me like ‘ey man u want out right?’”

    Sirius smiled, “I’d been working on something, something to keep me together while I waited for my chance to escape, and turns out it’s what got all three of us out of there. The bike.”

“Wait,” Remus frowned, “You had magic in Bat City? With the Blacks? How?”

  Sirius shrugged, “The House of Black is one of the proudest pureblood families in the country, they was hardly gonna just give it up! They just got more subtle about it, Narcissa married the PM Lucius Malfoy and that sealed the deal pretty safe. Anyways,

“So, it turns out Snitch had got into the city as part of the Pig Bomb mission. Ze weren’t s’posed to be there, being fourteen and all, but whatever. So like, that happened, and I made sure I was in the area at the time. And I flew them out of the city on my enchanted fuckin’ bike!

“And then they was all like ‘Holy shit! You’re Sirius Black!’ and I was like ‘And what?’ and… yeah…” She leant back, putting her weight on her arm, “I was free.”

Remus twiddled his thumbs, taking this all in. It was amazing; shocking; almost unbelievable. Only almost.

 Sirius turned to him, “Anything else?”

Remus rested his head on his hand, “Well, that’s the how, but what about the why? You were a celebrity, Sirius. You lived on bloody Dog Island! You even had magic! A wand and everything!”

Sirius’ smile fell and she hunched over, “It weren’t that great…”

  Remus watched her, wondering if she’d say more. He was about to change the subject when she sighed, “The House of Black is not all it appears. Behind closed doors… Walburga only smiles for the cameras, Andromeda too, but for very different reasons.

“If I stayed very quiet, didn’t make any mistakes, played perfect dolly, Walburga could pretend I was her perfect son. I guess I was the favourite, but it didn’t feel like that,” she held her fist in her hand, rubbing them against each other, and took a deep breath, “I was mostly raised by my cousins. Andromeda, Narcissa, and Bellatrix.

“They get crueller in succession. Andromeda was kind, almost like a real mum. Narcissa didn’t give a fuck either way. Bellatrix was straight up cruel. But… I was raised by three girls. They were a good influence in some ways, and in other ways… One day I came to dinner in a dress, bows in my hair, real fuckin’ cute. And they…” She gripped her fist tight enough to turn tanned knuckles white, tears welling in her eyes, “Regulus was conceived shortly afterwards. A second try.”

 Sirius wiped her eyes, sitting up, sniffing, “I’m four years older than Regulus, and I was very protective. I didn’t want Walburga to ever do to him what she did to me. But he was different; it was easy for him to just listen to them; take in what they said; do as he was told. He was perfect. Even a Slytherin.

   “They have the Sorting Hat, you know?” Sirius glanced at Remus, “The one from the old magic school. It’s locked away in one of their vaults. All of us got sorted. Slytherins, all of ‘em. ‘Cept me. They sat little eleven year old me down on a stool and shoved that hat over my head, and I begged it. Please don’t put me in Slytherin. Anything but Slytherin. Don’t let me be like them… It had never even been an option,” She smiled sadly, “Of course, when the hat sorted me to Gryffindor, that only widened the gap between me and my family…”

She took a deep breath and wiped her face again, “I’m rambling, sorry. Point is, they was horrible. It was all horrible, magic or no magic.”

Remus took her hand, “It’s alright. I thought something had been wrong, the way you behave sometimes. I see it in Pest. His dad was like that. Fuckin’ awful.”

Sirius squeezed his hand, “Parents fuckin’ suck.” Remus nodded.

They sat in silence for a while, punctuated only by Sirius’ sniffs and the whine of mosquitoes.

Sirius spoke first, “Any more questions, then?”

Remus shuffled in his seat, already able to predict the answer to this one, “Who is it you look for on the map? Who was the small Drac from that first patrol?”

Sirius sighed, jumping down from the fence, “Regulus Black.” She shook her head, running a hand through her hair, “I’m tired, can we…?” she nodded back to the Burrow.

 Remus jumped down beside her, putting his arm around her waist, “Sure.”

 


	20. Two Years On

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two years passed, and while little changed between the Marauders, much changed around them. The S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W drones grew more frequent, and increasingly ruthless. It had become difficult and dangerous to leave the Burrow, and Remus was reminded constantly that in the Zones they were fighting for not only their freedom, but their very lives.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW some pda, tattoo talk, drugs talk

Two years passed, and while little changed between the Marauders, much changed around them. The S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W drones grew more frequent, and increasingly ruthless. It had become difficult and dangerous to leave the Burrow, and Remus was reminded constantly that in the Zones they were fighting for not only their freedom, but their very lives.

These days, when Dr Death Defying reported the deaths between songs, the air went cold, and everyone held their breath. Remus recognised names now and then, and they stung his ears. He could only thank God it was nobody he was close to. Not so far.

  Draculoids now plagued the Zones like flies, but on patrols they were the least of a Killjoy’s worries; it was growing less and less unheard of to get into claps with Exterminators. Longshot insisted he’d seen the chief Exterminator himself once, but nobody quite believed him. Sirius reacted very differently to claps with Exterminators than to those with Dracs; she didn’t jump into them, but was more hesitant. Many times she’d been the one insisting they turn around and flee, while Chem and Snitch were adamant in fighting.

 Sirius was a constant for Remus in the chaos of the Zones; always by his side, loyal as a dog. He now understood the silent bond between Snitch and Chem, the shared secret of names. It didn’t matter that they knew who Sirius was too, because only he was allowed to call her that – and he did, whenever they were alone. He made the word change from what the magazines had made it; it was no longer the name forced upon her by the House of Black, but something safe from all prying eyes, and beautiful. She did the same with his name, rolling the r with ease, ‘rrey-muss’ not ‘ree-mus,’ an Italian name, from his father’s side.

Their bodies changed with age; Snitch and Sirius were now very tall, although Sirius never let Snitch forget that she was taller. However, while Snitch filled out with muscle, Sirius stayed thin and slightly gangly; a beanpole. The only change Remus experienced was that he grew tired of binding, and combined magic and some help the medical ward offered to get a flat chest. He refused to wear a shirt for a week afterwards.

   Chem’s tattoos blossomed from the shaved side of their head down their neck, all the way to their arm, and they encouraged the others to get some. Snitch got a stag across zir back, the antlers reaching each shoulder. Ze decided against a Golden Snitch tattoo; ze already had one on a pendant, and another painted on the back of zir vest. Pest refused to get any tattoos for fear of needles, but nobody minded. Sirius got two tattoos; the first was a circle on her neck that read ‘This body is mine alone’ in red ink.

The second, she got on Remus’ 18th birthday; a year from the day they shared names. It was to match the one Remus got on the same day, and they were enchanted. A circle each, one in red and one in blue. Remus’ waxed and waned a blue moon, and on moonless nights it revealed a wolf. At Sirius’ touch, the wolf opened its mouth to reveal the word ‘Remus.’ Sirius’ circle was fully red, save for the pinpricks of white stars. It tracked her star in the sky, and upon Remus’ touch the star would shine away all the red of the circle, leaving only one word: ‘Sirius.’

On the second anniversary of the day they had rescued Remus and Pest from Bat City, Chem made them all got matching tattoos. They were on the chest, just above the heart, and read ‘Mischief Managed.’

Pest hadn’t changed much at all. It was still short, and round, and never left the Garage. Some nights, it wouldn’t return until morning. But it seemed better than it had been, and Remus was glad to see the dose withdrawal must have broken.

* * *

 

In the past two years, Remus had gone on multiple Rescue Raids of his own, together with the Marauders. It was a strange but fun experience, introducing new Killjoys to the chaos of the Burrow.

  Together, they had rescued the Ricochet family (Gunshot, Solar Flare, and their baby Motor Mouth, who had taken great joy in helping the Wellard twins drive their mother up the wall since arrival.) They also picked up two students roughly their own age.

They had raided the square outside Better Living University, and Remus was amazed to see them climb over the University’s 8 foot fence, jumping from the top and hitting the ground running. The first student was rather round, with very short hair and square glasses, whereas the second was slight, with a straight nose and straighter hair, which fell loosely in a sheet of dark brown to their elbows.

  As they drove through the desert, the short haired student didn’t shut up for a second. Their mother had been a Killjoy, but they’d been raised by their mum, who couldn’t get out of Battery City because she was a Ritalin Rat to the highest degree. They said they’d always hated the dose, and didn’t mind at all when their mum stole theirs, and if they ever had to take a breath test they’d just have to run away to the Zones.

“So yeah, my name’s-”

“Whoa there,” Remus laughed, pressing a finger to the student’s mouth, “You don’t wanna do that. Think about it for a bit. You got a new start now, kid.”

The student shook their head vigorously, “Nuh uh! I’ve been thinking about this for time and I know all about the name rules and everything and I know exactly who I am! I’m Sunkissed Pride, she/her! My mother’s Gasoline Pride, do you know her?”

Remus shrugged, and Sirius laughed, “She’s one of the Alley Cat beaters! Well, she was last time I checked. We ain’t had much time for Quidditch, innit.”

“She was? Awesome! Will I get to see her?”

  Remus shook his head, “Sounds like she’s down in New Diagon Alley. We’re headed north, to the Burrow.”

Pride frowned, “Oh... Well,” She smiled, “Whatever! I’ll drive down and see her whenever.”

  After that, she went on talking about her stepfather and siblings, and how awful Bat City was, and how excited she was to be Killjoy, and a thousand other things.

Remus leant back, turning to the other student, who had shrunk into a corner of the car, watching the desert rush past. “Hey,” He nudged them, “You still alive?”

The student turned, and Remus saw a glazed over look in their eyes, how their movements were dulled, slower. This was the effect of the dose – he wondered if he had looked like this when they rescued him. They nodded, smiling slightly, “Yeah, I think so. Sorry about Ma- Sunkissed Pride,” They clapped their hand over their mouth.

Remus shook his head, “You didn’t actually say it, so it’s calm. She’s lovely, it’s great to have rescued someone so _animated!”_

The student shrugged, tucking hair behind their ears, “She’ll wear herself out soon.”

“So, since you’re friends with the great Sunkissed Pride, encyclopaedia of all things Killjoy, do you have a name planned?”

The student shrugged, “Um… Pride’s been calling me Crossbones for a while. Will that do?”

  Remus grinned, nodding, “That is fuckin’ shiny!”

 


	21. the New Year

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Remus knew they weren’t going to make it to the hilltop in time, but didn’t care. He sat on the back of the car with Sirius, and the Marauders had their own countdown. As they hit zero, the hill exploded in a flurry of colourful sparks, and everyone cheered. They saw gunshots hit the sky and Snitch and Chem shot their rayguns into the sky. Sirius stood up in the back of the car, holding her arms out to feel the air. She threw back her head and cried, “HELLOOOOOO 2023!”
> 
> \--
> 
> The New Year celebrations end abruptly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cw for death of unnamed characters, suicide implications, and bombings
> 
> Note: given that I've finished reading and queuing the fic, if anyone wants to bypass the waiting game, hmu and ill link you to the google.doc - there might be slight differences in the text, but nothing major.
> 
> ill also link you to all my notes with extra bits of info i mighta forgotten to add into the fic if asked

Another new year came. It was one of the few times deemed safe to venture out into the Zones in large parties like they once had. The S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W operatives were too busy celebrating themselves.

The Marauders drove into the desert towards the hilltop where a fireworks display was taking place, joined by Cal and Pride. Pride was taking great joy in the freedom of the Zones, especially the freedom to love whatever woman she liked, and she really liked Cal, who was a woman half the time at least.

Remus knew they weren’t going to make it to the hilltop in time, but didn’t care. He sat on the back of the car with Sirius, and the Marauders had their own countdown. As they hit zero, the hill exploded in a flurry of colourful sparks, and everyone cheered. They saw gunshots hit the sky and Snitch and Chem shot their rayguns into the sky. Sirius stood up in the back of the car, holding her arms out to feel the air. She threw back her head and cried, “HELLOOOOOO 2023!”

They carried on driving, past the hilltop, to a rundown barn, where Sirius signalled for them to stop. She had been organising this for weeks, and Remus had set up every enchantment he could find about the place to makes sure nothing would go wrong.

Sirius jumped from the car as a few other cars pulled up full of Killjoys. She ran to the barn, pushing the door open. She picked up two ends of wire from the ground and plugged them together. The entire building lit up; all colours of lights spilled from the windows and cracks. Music started playing.

Sirius stood by the door as Killjoys poured in, shouting, “Welcome, Crash Queens and Motorbabies, Zonehoppers and Dust Angels, to StarCatcher’s first and greatest New Year’s party!”

Remus stopped beside her, leaning against the door and pulling her headphones from his bag. She thanked him and put them on. Snitch ran up to them and tugged them both to the front of the barn, where there was a clearing filled with musical instruments.

Remus had convinced Sirius to put her singing voice to good use, and she really couldn’t resist the temptation of being onstage, mimicking Party Poison – outshining Party Poison. Remus had made a joke about Sirius’ sexy hip dance making Party Poison’s look like the Macarena.

The music stopped, and Sirius introduced them, “Hello, you all know me because this is my fucking party – this is my band, Ignition Underdog, Golden Snitch, and Calamity Kid. We’re called Dust Devils.” The name had been Cal’s idea. Everyone cheered, and Chem and Pride cheered loudest, climbing the eaves of the barn.

Remus wasn’t the best bassist the world had ever known, not by far, but he loved it all the same. Being on stage making music was an entirely different experience to listening to it. At first he had been very stiff, focusing entirely on the simple chords and notes, but after he became familiar with the songs, he relaxed on stage. He was free to let his fingers do the thinking, see the crowd, even dance.

The lyrics had been a combined effort of the entire band, and Chem. They weren’t quite perfect, and maybe they didn’t rhyme as well as they could, but when Sirius sang them, they were nothing less than amazing.

After a few songs, Chem dragged Snitch from the stage. Remus thought they were drunk, and they ran off out of the party. Fire Bolt took over, and they were a very good guitarist. They played the songs by ear, and everyone in the band was happy to let them have very long, improvised solos. Snitch had only known about three chords, whereas Bolt knew a guitar as well as they knew a broom.

They finished their fifth song with a glorious guitar solo, then threw out his arms and soaked in the crowds cheering. Sirius tugged them up from where they were on their knees, and shook their shoulder, grinning, “Snitch is fired! _Fired!_ You are our new guitarist, starting now. Whatcha say?”

Bolt smiled, “No offence, Catcher, but I’m aiming for the real heights. I’m gonna join the Weird Sisters; their guitarist sucks. It’ll be easy.”

Sirius tipped back her head and laughed. That’s when the whirring started. The music died, and everyone grew very still, and very quiet. Sirius ran through the crowd, pushing people aside, until she reached the plug. They were plunged into darkness. This was wrong; it was New Year, it was supposed to be safe tonight.

The screaming started from outside the barn, and the explosions rattled the wooden frame. The crowd became a rushing tide of terrified people fighting to escape. Sirius fought her way through them, back to Remus, who ran towards her.

Sirius grabbed him, pulling him close to keep him from the pull of the crowd, “Remus, where’s Chem? Where’s Snitch? Cal? Anyone?”

Remus looked behind him, all around him; it was impossible to tell one Killjoy from another now. He didn’t recognise anyone. “I don’t know. Sirius, please, we need to get out of here!”

Sirius whirled around, craning her neck and calling the names of her friends, “No! No, we don’t leave without them! We don’t do that!”

“Please, Pads, I swear down I saw them leave earlier. We need to get out of here-” a bomb hit the edge of the roof, flinging them all from the barn. Remus dragged Sirius kicking and screaming to the car. The only one there was Pest. He looked at it, and it shook his head, no idea where the others were.

Sirius turned on her heel, running back to the barn – it was now on fire, and more bombs were dropping all around them. It took all Remus’ strength to tear his eyes from the scene. He dragged Sirius back, shoving her into the car, holding her down, and yelled at Pest, “DRIVE!”

  They drove until they hit the red line, until the fire of the barn was a red-yellow mass on the horizon, and then they stopped. Remus was sure they were at a safe distance now, and released Sirius.

She jumped up, threw herself out of the car, and turned on Remus,  _ “WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?” _

Remus shook his head, rubbing the scratch she’d left on his cheek, “If you’d gone back there, you’d’ve been ghosted. Either we ran or we died.”

“But they were still in there! Snitch, Chem, Longshot, Cal,  _ EVERYONE!” _

__ Remus scowled, raising his voice, “You don’t know that! Everyone was rushing to get out, I think most of them did. Likelihood is, they hitched a ride with someone else. They’re fine.” He didn’t look at the fire behind him. He didn’t want to consider the alternative.  _ They’re fine. _

Sirius stared at him, breathless. She turned to Pest, “That what you think?”

Pest nodded, “I saw most of them leave the barn earlier, they probably got away first. And, yeah, it’s not worth us dying too, i-if that is what happened.”

Sirius backed away, shaking her head. She spat at the ground, “Call yourselves Gryffindors. You’re nothing but a pair of fucking snakes.” She turned and ran off into the desert.

Remus didn’t stop her. He slouched into the back of the car, watching her go, refusing to turn to face the fire. Either way, Remus thought, this was all his fault. It had been his responsibility to charm the barn so that it could never be found, but he’d failed. He’d failed, and now any death tonight was on his hands.

 

* * *

 

When the fires finally died, and the sky began to turn grey, Sirius returned. She was on her bike, and she didn’t look at either of them. “We’re going back there to look for survivors. We’re doing at least that much.”

She pulled them onto the bike, and Remus held on by her shoulders. He was shaking. If one of his friends was dust, it was his fault, and he knew it would be impossible to live after that. Sirius would never forgive him, he’d finally be rejected as he’d been expecting since day one. He’d have to return to Bat City, to his mother, to skirts and long hair and a name that wasn’t his. He’d kill himself first.

They flew over the wreckage, scanning the ground for survivors. Heat still radiated from it, and Remus thought about the bombs BL/ind built. There was something different about them, something terrifying. Pest spotted a huddle of people a few feet out, and they landed.

Snitch got up, running over to them. Ze ran with a limp. Sirius ran to zir, scooping zir up in a tight hug. “Oh, thank God. Thank God thank God thank God!” She cried into Snitch’s side. She looked up, “Where’s Chem? Cal? Bolt? Longs-”

Snitch nodded over to the group, and Cal walked over. His arms were badly burnt, “They’re all safe. Bolt, Chem, Longshot, Dangerhead, Pride, Crossbones… No major injuries.” He waves around his arms, “Stretchy stretchy save-y wavy.”

Remus hit into him, wrapping his arms around him and squeezing. This surprised them both; Remus was no physical person. “I’m so  _ so _ sorry, CK.”

Cal pushed him to arm’s length, pulling a face, “Not your fault, U-Dog. I mean, unless you tipped off BL/ind or some shit. In which case, I’ll let Catcher kill you.”

Remus shook his head, “I was s’posed to be protecting the place with magic! It failed.”

  Sirius put a hand on his shoulder and he jumped. Her face was unreadable, “Some magic only works when the people you’re hiding from don’t  _ know _ about it.”

Cal and Remus exchanged glances.  _ Had _ someone tipped off BL/ind? Remus turned to Sirius,

“Does that mean you forgive me?”

Sirius shrugged, pushing past them to check on her friends, “I never particularly blamed you for that bit.”

 

* * *

 

Sirius and Remus apparated back to the Burrow, and returned with fuel. Eventually, they got all the survivors home and toted up the deaths. Seven, and Remus didn’t know a single one of them. He repeated the names again and again in his head, until they were stuck there forever: the seven strangers that died because of him.

Injuries were quickly healed, and all the Marauders were back in the Marauders’ Cave by sundown. Cal’s burns were harder, but he didn’t mind a bit. They promised to visit him tomorrow.

Night came, and Sirius turned out the lights. She lay on the far end of the bed, turned away from Remus. It was the first time in over two years that Remus hadn’t felt the press of her against him as he lay awake.

“If it isn’t the magic, then what are you angry at me about?” Remus asked.

“You left them,” Sirius whispered.

  Remus sighed, “The entire place was going up in flames, the drone was right there above us… What else was I s’posed to do?”

“You were telling me to run, even before it went up in flames.”

“Because I knew it was coming any minute.”

“Then you should have been rushing to find the others! They’re your friends, Moony! They’re your family. You were just gonna leave them?”

“Everyone was leaving, I was sure they were getting out. I had no time to think, all I knew was that- that-”

“That?” He heard Sirius turn over to look at him.

“That if you died, it’d be entirely my fault. And I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself.” His voice came out far quieter than expected, barely audible.

“And you’d be able to forgive yourself if someone else – one of your friends – had died?”

“No.” Remus was unsure if he’d even said it out loud, but Sirius heard.

“I knew some of those people. If I’d just gone back, tried to save them-”

“Then it would have been eight.”

 Remus turned over, pulling the covers tighter over himself, tugging them away from Sirius. She didn’t protest. Moments later, he heard her sigh, and turn over herself. Remus lay awake, listening to the steady breathing of his friends, his family, and prayed for all of them under his breath, thanked God for their lives.

He didn’t know how much time passed like this, unable to sleep, chanting whatever prayers he could remember like lullabies. At some point in the night he felt a hand on his back. Sirius’ hand climbed his spine, reaching around until she found his own hand. She laced her fingers with his, and he didn’t stop her. She pulled his hand behind him, into the space that lay between them, and made circles with her thumb. His fingers closed around her hand. He finally slept.


	22. a Baby

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “So you’re keeping it?”  
>  “Catcher!”  
>  A frown of sincerity fell on Sirius’ face, and she leant forward to hold Chem’s knee, “Yes, Chem, I can be godparent. I am gonna raise the shit out of this baby.”
> 
> \--
> 
> The New Year's party has a silver lining.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cw for pregnancy, obviously

A week after the party, Chem had gathered all the Marauders in their usual common room; they said they needed to tell them something. The Marauders gathered around them on the beaten up sofas, waiting. Remus had no idea what they were about to tell them all, and as he looked around the group he saw that neither did anybody else.

“Okay,” Chem took a deep breath, then said, “I’m pregnant.”

  They all stared at them, silent, stunned. Snitch laughed, prodding them in the arm, “Very funny, JD, now what’s the real news?”

They scowled at zir, “That is the real news.”

 Ze fainted. Sirius jumped to her feet, pulling at her hair and rambling about responsibility and dirty nappies. Pest poked Snitch, raising its eyebrows, “He actually fainted! He ain’t putting it on!”

Chem leant on their hand, letting their boys freak out. Pest sat in a corner, chewing its hand raw, while Sirius ran about the room, shooting Chem with a quick-fire of questions they didn’t bother to answer. Remus sat where he was, clutching his knee and forcing a smile. He had no idea how to react to this news. A baby. What the fuck? Gross! He left his freaking out to inside his head, and congratulated Chem in a scripted voice, “That’s so brilliant, Doe, I’m so glad. When is it due?”

  Chem smiled, “I’m glad at least you still have your head about you, Moony.”

  Eventually, Snitch came to, while Sirius was still yelling. Ze tugged at Chem’s arm, saying weakly, “Is it mine?”

Chem shoved zir, “Obviously!”

 Snitch shrugged, “You never know, fam.” Ze sat up, and raised zir voice, “Oh my days, Catcher, chill the fuck out!”

  Sirius stopped, sitting down heavily beside Remus, still shaking her head and whispering “A baby… A fucking baby…”

Chem sighed, putting their arm around Snitch, “I’m gonna regret this, but Catcher,”

“Yes?” She looked up,

“Can you be godparent?”

“So you’re keeping it?”

_    “Catcher!” _

__ A frown of sincerity fell on Sirius’ face, and she leant forward to hold Chem’s knee, “Yes, Chem, I can be godparent. I am gonna raise the shit out of this baby.”

Snitch was about to protest, when Longshot ran into the room. He skidded to a halt before them, breathing heavily. He looked like he had seen a ghost. “PREGNANT!” he yelled, and then vaulted a sofa and ran off again.

“Wow… good for Danger Head!” Chem laughed.

  Remus smirked, nudging Sirius, “Guess your party was a success to some extent, eh?”


	23. the Chief Exterminator

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Voldemort had been a Killjoy once, one of Dr Death Defying’s elite, the original Killjoys, Voldemort had called them Death Eaters. But BL/ind offered him something else; power, recognition, control over others. The Killjoys never really had control; in a team you’d have trust, you’d do as another said because you respected and loved them – Voldemort dealt in fear alone. The strange thing was, however, he kept the name. Tom Riddle was no longer good enough for him.
> 
> \--
> 
> A close encounter of the Death (capital D) kind, and the past comes calling for Sirius.

The days climbed to months, and the winter sun did little to thaw the chill that coated the Zones. It didn’t snow; it never snowed, only froze. What few streams that remained were now veins of ice in cracked ground, crystalline and treacherous. Driving at all was a dangerous affair, with or without Draculoids.

The Marauders made a patrol on broomsticks and bike; even with magic and Pest fitting special tires, they couldn’t trust the car on the ice of the roads. The single-person mobility proved convenient, however – the threats of BL/ind grew worse every day, and to be able to all split up and scatter was a great advantage. Pest had stayed behind, feeling unsafe without the car.

They were just about to turn around and head back when a sound surrounded them that Remus had only heard a few times; the low hum of Exterminator vehicles. Almost noiselessly, the vehicles circled them – four of them – and kicked up ice and dust into the air.

Remus pulled up his bandana over his face, squinting through the dust. Sirius flew close to him, reaching out to hold his shoulder. When the dust cleared the Exterminator Vehicles were lined up before them, and four Exterminators were climbing out.

Sirius landed first, guns in hands. The others followed, lining up across from the Exterminators. The tallest one stepped forward, and Remus recognised him. He was very pale, bald, his nose was missing. The chief Exterminator: Voldemort. He knew the story – everyone knew the story.

Voldemort had been a Killjoy once, one of Dr Death Defying’s elite, the original Killjoys, Voldemort had called them Death Eaters. But BL/ind offered him something else; power, recognition, control over others. The Killjoys never really had control; in a team you’d have trust, you’d do as another said because you respected and loved them – Voldemort dealt in fear alone. The strange thing was, however, he kept the name. Tom Riddle was no longer good enough for him.

The other three Exterminators were Bellatrix Lestrange, second in command, her husband Rudolphus, and another Exterminator that Remus couldn’t name. What were they all doing out here? Last they’d heard, the Exterminators had been focusing on the south, and it was rare for Voldemort himself to leave Bat City.

Sirius stepped forward, head raised, shoulders back, “You want something? I’m assuming you must want something, what with us all still being alive.”

Voldemort shook his head, tutting, “Such nerve. Was he always like this, Bellatrix?” Bellatrix laughed coyly, nodding.

Sirius stiffened, “How would she know? I ain’t never seen her in my life, ‘cept from on them trash magazines.”

Bellatrix sneered, “You should see them all this week, cousin. So many rumours about _you_ , I haven’t even had a look-in!”

Sirius cocked her head, “What?”

  They ignored her, and Voldemort spoke again, “You know, Mr Black, I was like you once. It’s not uncommon to have a phase of rebellion in one’s teens. But now it has long passed its due date, you’re growing into a young man, and you need to take responsibility.”

Sirius shook her head, raising her guns to him, “You don’t know me. Don’t know me for shit. This ain’t no phase, I ain’t got no responsibility to you, and I ain’t no man!” She shot.

The firefight was heated, these Exterminators were skilled; deadly; terrifying. Remus made heavy use of his raygun, and heavier use of his wand, manipulating the fight as nonverbally as he could. Throughout, Bellatrix pranced about the fight, like a child in a toy shop. One moment, she gripped Chem by the throat, toying with her raygun around their head, the next she had dropped them unscathed to the ground, shooting at Snitch. She shouted over the fight in a language Remus didn’t know – Mandarin; she was speaking to Sirius. He could tell by her laugh, her tone, how Sirius grew increasingly reckless and violent, that her words were very cruel.

The fight ended when Sirius shot the fourth Exterminator through the head. The battle had frozen for the split of a second, and they took their opportunity to run. Remus looked back to see Bellatrix start to run after them, but she stopped when Voldemort called her back. He flew close to Sirius, watching her with care.

Chem and Snitch went to the medical ward, and as expected, Sirius disappeared. Remus followed routine and wandered down to the library.

Soon enough, Sirius turned up, lying down beside him on the beanbag. Remus read for a while, then stopped, turning to Sirius,  “Are you okay?”

Sirius shook her head.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

  She shrugged, staring into the distance. Remus put his arm around her, brushing the hair from her face. After a while, she spoke, “Are you okay?” Her voice was very quiet.

Remus shrugged, “A little shaken.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

 Remus smiled, “If you do.” She lolled her head on his shoulder, looking up at him. “What did Bellatrix say to you?” Remus asked.

Sirius stared at the ceiling, thinking, and Remus waited. Eventually, she said, “First, she said about the magazines and the rumours. Big deal. It’s all the same as it’s always been. Then she started talking about Regulus…” She sighed. Remus waited, then asked,

“Is he okay?”

  She shook her head, “She says he’s climbing the BL/ind ladder. Done bad things to get there. Bad bad things…”

Remus squeezed her shoulder, and she went silent again. They sat in silence, and Sirius tapped her fingers against her knees. Remus didn’t know how long had passed. Sirius took his hand, knitting their fingers together, “She’s lying.” She didn’t sound sure, she sounded like she was asking a question. Remus didn’t know what to say. She said again, “She’s lying.”

Remus nodded, squeezing her hand, “She’s lying.”


	24. We're Family Now

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eventually, Snitch sat forward, wiping zir eyes, “Y’know what? I thought of something. It’s something I’ve been thinking over for a while now, me an’ Chem both, and I want yous to listen.”
> 
> \--
> 
> The death of Sunkissed Pride moves Chemical Wonder to an unconventional course of action.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cw for death

The Marauders were sat in their usual common room playing exploding snap and listening to the Killjoy radio. Sirius sang along to the song, changing the words to make them funny here and there, and generally there was a light-hearted feeling in the air. The song faded out, and Dr Death Defying started speaking.

“Bad news from the Zones, Tumbleweeds.” Something had gone wrong, somebody was dead. They all turned to the radio, watching it as if constant vigilance would stop the news from coming, from being true.

“Looks like our sister Sunkissed Pride got in a clap with an Exterminator, got herself ghosted. Dusted out, trying to break her little step-siblings outta Bat City. The whole litter’s dust, Killjoys. The mothers Jennifer and Gasoline Pride too. It’s a sad day in the Zones.”

They turned to each other, each face a picture of shock. It felt as if the sofas were falling away beneath them. Remus felt someone grab his hand – Sirius – and someone else grab his arm. Everyone was holding onto each other, the only thing keeping them all from falling away.

He remembered Pride, how she’d dyed her hair every colour of the rainbow in stripes for the first few months, then got bored of re-dying it and let it go brown, covering it with a rainbow hat. How she never stopped talking, even when fighting, and knew a surprising amount about Ancient Greek literature, reminding everyone she had been a university student once. She drove everyone up the wall, but they loved her for it. He remembered how every change she made to her appearance she said was for ‘the Butch aesthetic’ and how she jumped for joy when Sirius introduced her to the best of Killjoy lesbian music.

He remembered that. Everything that made Pride herself, so he didn’t have to think of her body lying somewhere, surrounded by her family, as the Exterminators checked for survivors. Lifeless and empty and grey.

“Remember Killjoys,” Dr Death continued, “Out here in the Zones we have freedom. We don’t have our lives tampered with by BL/ind and their products. But that comes with a price. With our freedom comes feeling, and that is our greatest-” Sirius threw the radio at a wall.

They sat in silence for God only knows how long, remembering Pride, trying to regain the ability to speak. Sirius cried, which made everyone else cry.

Eventually, Snitch sat forward, wiping zir eyes, “Y’know what? I thought of something. It’s something I’ve been thinking over for a while now, me an’ Chem both, and I want yous to listen.”

Everyone turned to him, having calmed down enough for crying to be just the odd sniffle. Chem held Snitch’s hand as he continued, “Okay so, we’re family, yeah?” Everyone nodded, “So the name thing goes, family and lovers. The people we trust most-”

    “And family, where sometimes it’s just because there’s no real getting around it.”

“Thank you, Padfoot,” Chem said, “The point is, blood regardless, we’re all the people we trust most. We are a family. And,” they took a deep breath, “It’s obvious now that, really, any of us could die any day. More now than ever. So…”

“We think we should all share names. It just… it feels right, innit?”

Remus stared at the pair of them, unsure of the idea. He thought again about Pride, and her name, it began with a ‘Ma’, that’s all he knew. He imagined the moment before she died, someone, a sibling or a mother, calling out her name. How it had died with them. He didn’t know how all of this was making him feel.

Snitch watched Sirius. While most of them knew her name anyway, she still had the most to lose. Remus turned to her, saw she was nodding ever so slightly.

“Okay, well,” Chem clapped, “I’ll start. My name’s Lily Evans.”

“I’m Jaiman Potter. Just call me James or Jamie or whatever, honestly ‘Jaiman’ is only saved for when my parents were properly pissed at me. Or one of us was gonna die.”

Ze looked around the room, waiting for someone else to speak. Sirius cleared her throat, “Well, you three all know, so,” She turned to Pest, “I’m Sirius Black. Yes,  _ the _ Sirius Black, the dead one. I’ll cut the explanation short: These two,” she nodded to James and Lily, “Got me out – or, well, really, I got  _ them _ out – I left because the House of Black makes your dad seem like Mary fuckin’ Poppins, and yeah. That’s all you really need to know.”

Pest nodded slowly, dazed. Its mouth hung open and its eyes were wide. It mouthed something inaudible. “Sorry, what was that?” Sirius said.

“Can I have your autograph?” It said, smirking. It was a joke. Sirius laughed, pulling it into a hug and kissing its crown.

“There’s your fuckin’ autograph, you fuckin’ nerd! Right there,” she poked where she’d kissed it, then released it.

“Okay, Pest,” Lily smiled at it, “Do you wanna go next?”

  Pest shrank into itself, clasping and unclasping its metal hand, “I dunno what to say.”

 “Uh, your name?” James laughed.

  “No, I mean. I don’t think it’s really my name anymore. Like, Moony weren’t born with the name he goes by, what if I just… don’t go by any name?”

“Well, how about this?” Lily shuffled towards it, “Tell us what you want to go by, and we’ll take that instead.”

Pest smiled, “I think I just want to go by Wormtail.”

 James nodded, “Wormtail it is! Good ol’ Wormy. Welp, that only leaves you, moon face.”

Remus frowned. He was still unsure how he felt about the entire concept, but it was definitely too late to back down. He’d liked how his name had become a secret between him and Sirius, their own thing, proof of their love. Was he prepared to give that up?   
  
Sirius squeezed his hand, leaning over and whispering,  “You’ll still be my Remus, even if they know, alright?”

  Remus smiled, nodding, and said, “Remus Lupin.”

James spent the next hour laughing with Sirius about the name, “Remus fuckin’ Lupin! Wolf wolf! Oh my days, what’s your middle name? Romulus?”

Remus grinned, flushing, “It’s John.”

  “Remus John Lupin! Wolf John Wolf. What the fuck, Moony?”

  Sirius smirked, “It’s worse when you think that he chose it himself.”

  James slouched back, shaking his head, “Sirius, your boyfriend is one fuck of a nerd.”

  Sirius put her arm around Remus, “I know, it’s why I love him.”


	25. a Mole

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After their death, it had become common to see Killjoys armed with fly swatters and bug spray. BL/ind had used tiny cameras the size of flies for a long time, and people were finally taking them seriously. You could identify a Fly – as opposed to a regular fly – because they were slightly slower, and easier to catch. Once you had caught it, you’d see that it had no legs, and helicopter propeller instead of wings. They can be crushed between finger and thumb, but it hurts a bit to do so.
> 
> \--
> 
> A mole in the Burrow has everybody on edge, the first seeds of doubt are planted into Remus' mind, and a new arrival stirs up old stories.

After Crossbones died in a clap with chief Exterminator Voldemort himself, everyone was sure that there’s a mole in the Burrow; Crossbones had been part of a very secret operation, and even after their death nobody knew what it had been. It must have been very important, though, because Voldemort was rumoured to have gone alone, shot them through the head with his own Individual.

After their death, it had become common to see Killjoys armed with fly swatters and bug spray. BL/ind had used tiny cameras the size of flies for a long time, and people were finally taking them seriously. You could identify a Fly – as opposed to a regular fly – because they were slightly slower, and easier to catch. Once you had caught it, you’d see that it had no legs, and helicopter propeller instead of wings. They can be crushed between finger and thumb, but it hurts a bit to do so.

Sirius, who had always hated the Killjoy radio because of Dr Death, now played it constantly, making everyone shut up when a new death was reported. Sometimes it was someone Remus knew, but never closely. He took to praying for all his friends every morning and every night – as did Wormtail and James.

Sirius had become very quiet after Crossbones’ death – she hadn’t known them very well, so Remus assumed it must be the mole. She could always been seen holding a fly swatter. It wouldn’t be surprising, except she became closed off to everyone, even the Marauders, even him. This didn’t make sense; if one of them was the mole, they’d have been able to tell BL/ind about Sirius any time they wanted, and would have done so far earlier. Remus thought of what Bellatrix had said about the magazines; maybe someone already had.

But at nights, when Sirius slept at a distance, not holding him the same as she used to, Remus’ thoughts drifted to what Voldemort had said to her. _It’s not uncommon to have a phase of rebellion in one’s teens. But now it has long passed its due date, you’re growing into a young man, and you need to take responsibility._ For the first time, he wondered where Sirius disappeared to.

 

* * *

 

Before the month was over, something interrupted the harsh silence of suspicion that had fallen on the Burrow. Cal tugged open the door to the Marauders’ Cave, grinning, breathless, “YOU ALL NEED TO FOLLOW ME RIGHT NOW RIGHT AWAY RIGHT THIS INSTANT!”

He led them to the Wardrobe department, yelling about who just turned up and how he knew it would happen eventually. He was so happy, his hair was an even brighter pink than usual. He skidded to a halt at the entrance to the wardrobe department, where they found his father Road Ruckus kissing Andromeda Black – the real Andromeda – with passion. “Abba! Oh my days, that is so gross, just wait, won’t you?” Cal whined.

Ruckus released Andromeda, laughing, “Sorry, CK. Hey- who are these people?” He pointed at the Marauders.

  Cal rolled his eyes, sidling over to his mother to hold her hand, “It’s fine, they know!” Andromeda looked very different than she had on the magazines. She was dirty from the journey, and her once fashionable black jumpsuit was ripped and stained. Her hair had been clumsily cut short, and one side of her face swelled from where she must have been hit by something, or someone. “Look, guys! She came! She made her way all the way across the desert on a fuckin’ stolen Exterminator vehicle! Fuckin’ shiny, right?” She jumped up and down, clinging to her mother like a child. Andromeda smiled at her.

Sirius stepped forward, pointing, “You’re smiling. You’re really smiling!”

 She turned to her, and for a moment her face was blank, and then recognition fell. She uttered a name Remus had heard Bellatrix call Sirius, and then covered her mouth. Sirius shook her head, “This lot know. But, like, don’t go spreading it around, alright?” Andromeda threw her arms around her cousin, peppering her cheek with kisses.  _ Almost like a real mum,  _ Sirius had called her _. _

Andromeda pulled away, smiling and smoothing down Sirius’ jacket. She turned to the others, “Cal says I have to pick out a new outfit and name, disguise myself, so hush hush!” She put a finger to her lips playfully.

“Yeah, Mama, c’mere!” Cal dragged Andromeda into the racks, “Look, we’ve got  _ colour!  _ Do you remember colour, Mama?”

“Enough of your cheek!” Andromeda laughed, rootling through jackets and jeans.

The Marauders returned to the Cave, and a few hours later Cal brought his mum round. The new Andromeda had bright pink hair to match her daughter’s, and revelled in wearing as many colours and belts as she could manage. Man Eater, she called herself. Cal explained how Andromeda meant ruler of men, but ‘Man Ruler’ sounded a bit boring and a bit obvious.

 

 


	26. the Prophecy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There were three radio stations: Better Living Radio alpha, which played shit music and shitter announcements, Better Living Radio beta, which was for business and other irrelevant Bat City nonsense, and Killjoy radio. Normally, Sirius would just leave it on Killjoy radio, but Dr Death was having an interview with some fake seer; completely boring. So she just flipped between each station, forming strange sentences like ‘the inner eye, is on the rise, oh baaaaaaaaby’ or ‘grave danger, it’s a good time to invest, in loooooooooooove.’
> 
> \--
> 
> A prophecy, publicly declared across Killjoy Radio, changes everything, and throws the future into certain uncertainty.

After a surprisingly peaceful patrol, the Marauders lazed about in the Cave. Lily had kept away from patrols for a while now, for the baby’s sake. They were starting to show, and James held them on zir lap, leaning over the bump and talking to it in Tamil.

Meanwhile, Remus and Wormtail played chess, while Sirius lounged about on her bed, flipping through radio stations. There were three radio stations: Better Living Radio alpha, which played shit music and shitter announcements, Better Living Radio beta, which was for business and other irrelevant Bat City nonsense, and Killjoy radio. Normally, Sirius would just leave it on Killjoy radio, but Dr Death was having an interview with some fake seer; completely boring. So she just flipped between each station, forming strange sentences like ‘the inner eye, is on the rise, oh baaaaaaaaby’ or ‘grave danger, it’s a good time to invest, in loooooooooooove.’

Lily raised their head, scowling, “Will you fuckin’ stop that, Sirius!”

Sirius wagged a finger at them, “Swearing! In front of the baby!”

“Oh, fuck the shit off! Just pick a fucking station or turn it off!”

 Sirius rolled her eyes, leaving it on Killjoy radio. Remus couldn’t help but take interest; while this seer – Secret Treasure or something – was a complete fraud, she was rather funny too. She went on and on about all this mortal peril and imminent death, which was obvious all around them anyway.

“Now, Treasure, could you-” Dr Death started, but Treasure interrupted him,

  “The inner eye is also telling me something… something… about carbons? Yes… something about giving lots of carbons to seers, for good luck-”

The radio cut to static. Sirius hit it, but it did nothing. She groaned, tossing it in the air, “Piece of junk.”

Over the static a voice started screaming, and it felt like the seer Secret Treasure was in the room with them,

“A HERO HAS BEEN CHOSEN. A CHILD, BORN OF TWO FIGHTING AGAINST THE MONOCHROME DEVIL, IN THE LAST DAYS OF THE SUMMER. THE MONOCHROME'S TRUE LEADER, A TRAITOR OF THE RESISTANCE, WILL MARK THE CHOSEN ONE WITH THE POWER TO DESTROY HIM. NEITHER CAN LIVE WHILE THE OTHER SURVIVES”

The Marauders stared at each other, shocked into silence. The static died away, and Dr Death’s voice came through,

“Sorry about that, Tumbleweeds, there seemed to have been some technical difficulties. Thank you, Secret Treasure. I’ll bring you now to the traffic.”

Sirius turned the radio off. There were very few pregnancies in the Zones, and the only other Remus could think of was Danger Head. Maybe the Chosen One would be born in New Diagon Alley, Remus thought, before remembering that the entire place had been blown off the map just a week prior.

Wormtail spoke first, “When’s the baby due?”


	27. Fidelius

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Alright, so like,” James pulled a bag out from under zir bed, and from it produced a cloak like Remus had never seen; it shimmered in the light, translucent, weightless. James pulled it over zirself, and zir body disappeared, “This is our greatest defence. My pa left it for me when he croaked.” Remus remembered, it was two years ago, and James had shaved off all zir hair and few people recognised zir without all those green curls, very sombre and serious.
> 
> \--
> 
> Lily and James take action to protect themselves and their unborn child.

After hearing the prophecy, James and Lily were quick to decide to go into hiding. They had already been considering it before, for the sake of the baby. They could use the old Petrolhead residence, beyond the Zones. The journey would be dangerous, passing through the Zones of Lament to reach it, but they were sure it was the safest place. Hidden away, in a small corner of the country.

They told the Marauders a week before they set out, gathered together in the Cave.

  “Why are you telling us this?” Sirius frowned, “Any one of us could be the mole, James. And, like, that mole could be the dude what’s s’posed to try kill the little fucker!”

“‘A traitor of the resistance,’” Remus recited.

  James laughed, “Oh, shut up, Pads! Like one of yous is the traitor. Fuck it,” Ze threw zir hand in the air, “I admit it!  _ I’m _ the traitor! I gotta kill this baby, right after I’ve conceived it, named it, raised it, all that shit. Weren’t it obvious?” Sirius rolled her eyes, forcing a laugh.

“Alright, so like,” James pulled a bag out from under zir bed, and from it produced a cloak like Remus had never seen; it shimmered in the light, translucent, weightless. James pulled it over zirself, and zir body disappeared, “This is our greatest defence. My pa left it for me when he croaked.” Remus remembered, it was two years ago, and James had shaved off all zir hair and few people recognised zir without all those green curls, very sombre and serious.

“With this, we can hide if we need to. And if we need to make journeys, we can fly on a broom hidden underneath it. I was thinking like, you two could disapparated us there?”

Sirius and Remus exchanged glances, and Remus said, “We’ve never gone so far, but theoretically…”

Sirius shrugged, “Piece a’ cake.”

Lily nodded, “Brilliant. We’ve been organising with Dr Death so that-”

_ “WHAT?”  _ Sirius jumped to her feet.

  Lily sighed, “He offered. He’s got resources, he can have people help us out. People with  _ wands!” _

__ “We’ve  _ got _ a people with wand!” Sirius shouted, pointing at Remus, “Signing with fuckers like that is how you get yourselves killed!”

  James leant back, rolling zir eyes, “If it’s any consolation, we’re only telling you four the address. You’ll be the only ones that’ll be able to reach us.”

“Speaking of which!” Lily waved at Sirius, “Sit down, alright, we want to ask you something.”

  Sirius sat down heavily, clasping her hands together, “Yeah?”

Lily and James exchanged glances, then Lily spoke, “We’re gonna use the fidelius charm.”

  Sirius shrugged, “And?”

 Remus sat forward, “That’s the one where you need someone who can share the knowledge, and then nobody else can share it, right?”

Lily nodded, “A Secret Keeper.”

James smiled, “We want it to be you, Sirius. I mean, yeah, you’re a reckless, piece of shit Crash Queen, but you are one tight lipped mother fucker,” James reached across and took Sirius’ hand, “And we both trust you with our lives.”

Lily touched her arm, “You trusted us with yours, you’re the godparent, and we know you’ll be a great Secret Keeper.”

Sirius stared at them. She stared so long, saying nothing, that Lily had to nudge her. She smiled at them, “I’m gonna keep the shit outta this secret.”


	28. On the Marauders' Map

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Without James and Lily, the Marauders’ Cave felt empty and quiet. This effect was heightened by the fact that Wormtail was very rarely around, and Sirius was growing more sullen and moody by the minute. They went on more patrols than usual, just the three of them, and Sirius was even more reckless. She fought like she had after she first saw Regulus, ripping off masks first. She never found him.
> 
> \--
> 
> While the Potters are tucked away, safe and happy, the same cannot be said for the Burrow, or the remaining Marauders. Relationships begin to dissipate, communication dwindles, and suspicion is high.

James and Lily had spent roughly two years in hiding now. The baby had been born, a very small thing that looked just like James in all ways except the eyes – as intense a green as Lily’s. They were born with a full head of curly black hair, and so they named them Harry; hairy. It had been Remus’ idea; he did love pun names. James and Lily didn’t give them a Killjoy name; they’d just be ‘the Petrolhead Baby’ until they could choose their own.

Remus still hated babies, he was sure of this, but Harry was lovely – from a distance. After they learnt to walk, they would run up to Remus as soon as they came in the door. Remus soon learnt that toddlers have the magical ability of being perpetually sticky. Despite this, visits were enjoyable and often. Sometimes, they were joined by Cal, or Longshot and Danger Head with their own child, who they were calling Foghorn in company until further notice – there was a very good reason behind this nickname.

Without James and Lily, the Marauders’ Cave felt empty and quiet. This effect was heightened by the fact that Wormtail was very rarely around, and Sirius was growing more sullen and moody by the minute. They went on more patrols than usual, just the three of them, and Sirius was even more reckless. She fought like she had after she first saw Regulus, ripping off masks first. She never found him.

Every so often, at night, when Sirius thought he was asleep, he rolled away from Remus. He could hear her crying, ever so quietly. He supposed she was crying for her brother, and sometimes he reached out a hand to comfort her. This could have wildly different results.

Sometimes she would flinch away, shuffle further across or go as far as turning into a dog and curling up on the floor. Other times, she would fall into Remus’ touch, rolling over and kissing him – really, truly kissing him – for the first time in months. They’d fall asleep clinging tightly to each other, as if the terror all around them would steal them in the night otherwise.

  One night like any other, however, Sirius pulled Remus close as soon as she’d turned the lights out. She kissed him like she used to; like it was her own form of worship. She pulled him close and ran hands through his hair, curling her fingers round it. Remus embraced her, forgetting himself. His hands ran all over her body, exploring places he hadn’t touched in years. He remembered everything perfectly.

Eventually, reluctantly, they stopped. They watched each other in the glow of Sirius’ jacket. She smiled, pushing Remus’ hair from his eyes. Then she said, “Do you trust me?”

The question surprised Remus. He frowned, trying to discern some hidden meaning in her face. She looked sad. “Yes,” He said. He didn’t doubt his answer, not much at least.

She closed her eyes, breathing. She opened them a moment later, and held Remus in her gaze, “I trust you too.”

She continued to stare at him, eyes travelling all across his face. Remus cupped her face in his hand, “Are you alright, Sirius?” Sirius tore her gaze away, shaking her head. “Do you want to talk about it?” She shook her head again.

  Then, she sat up. She muttered something about needing to piss, and walked from the room. It felt cold without her.

Remus waited, and Sirius didn’t return. He grew restless, and got up to look for her. She was nowhere Remus expected her to be. He returned to the Cave, and pulled out the Marauders’ Map. James and Lily had left it behind, useless to them where they were hidden.

He spread it out across the ground, lit his wand, and began searching. He searched the entire Burrow, then the surrounding Zones, then the rest of the Zones. He found her in a warehouse on the edge of Battery City.

He leant closer, there were other people there. The names above their figures read Bellatrix Lestrange, and Regulus Black. Remus fetches a magnifying glass from a drawer, holding it to the paper. He tried to read the conversation from the little body language the Map showed.

He saw Sirius hug Regulus, and she didn’t let go for a very long time. Regulus didn’t hug her, just stayed very still, back straight. He stepped away from her, and she reached out. He stepped back again.

Bellatrix took Regulus’ hand and began leading him away, but Sirius took his other hand. They tugged Regulus this way and that, neither of them yielding, until Regulus pulled himself free. He said something, and Sirius fell to her knees. Regulus and Bellatrix left, driving back to Battery City.

Remus watched Sirius as she fell apart in the warehouse, throwing things at walls and kicking the things she couldn’t pick up and throw.

“Hey, watcha looking at?” Wormtail had just walked in. Remus hadn’t even noticed it had left. He quickly folded the map, tucking it away in its drawer, “Nothing! Why did you think I was looking at anything in particular? Go to sleep.”

Remus climbed into bed himself, turning out the light. He would cover for Sirius until she returned, and then he would confront her about it. He had to, right? What if she was the traitor?  _ Then James and Lily would already be dead _ , he thought. And yet, Remus couldn’t help wondering why Sirius hadn’t told her. She said she trusted him, they were supposed to have no secrets between each other.


	29. Halloween

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Voldemort was dead? This combination of news left the Killjoys around Remus unsure whether to cheer or cry, so they did both. Remus came to notice a dull ache; a hollow sinking, and found himself on his knees. He pushed himself up by his cane, and didn’t think his struggle standing was to do with his leg injury at all.
> 
> \--
> 
> Sirius is missing, the Potters are dead, Wormtail is (where is Wormtail, anyway?) - Remus is alone, again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cw for major character death, grief, and bleeding

Remus woke up to find he was alone in the Cave. Sirius still hadn’t returned. He checked his watch; it was midday. Nobody had woken him.

He jumped from bed, throwing on his clothes and running into the food hall. If Sirius had returned, she’d hopefully be there. The room was buzzing with conversation, different to usual; tense, panicked. The radio played over the noise, Dr Death giving reports of chaos northwest, where James and Lily were hidden. Dr Death had only said ‘northwest,’ so perhaps he just meant the northwest Zones; he rarely reported news outside of the Zones.

Remus searched the room with his eyes, but couldn’t see Sirius anywhere. He ran to their usual place, and found only Cal. He was paler than usual. Remus sat down,

“Hey, have you seen Catcher?”

  Cal shook his head, “Not since yesterday. Do you think…?”

  Remus shook his head, staring at the table. He would not entertain the thought.

The day continued in chaos. Everybody was rushing about this way and that, running to fight in whatever fight had taken place. It was as if the world was on fire. It was impossible for Remus to find anyone, not Wormtail, not Sirius, not anyone.

At sundown everyone stopped. They were listening to the radio, every last Killjoy in every last Zone.

“Bad news, Tumbleweeds. We’ve sent Killjoys out to check, and our friends Golden Snitch and Chemical Wonder are dust. The child can’t be found.” Remus felt the world fall away from under his feet. Dr Death’s voice was very feint, like someone had turned to radio down until it was little more than a whisper, “From what we know, Voldemort had tracked them down alone,” _A traitor of the resistance_ , Voldemort had been a Killjoy once, “and he did something very strange, Killjoys. He didn’t use a zap, but a wand. Now, I don’t know where he got this thing from, but it can’t have been very good, because a killing curse rebound on him. We haven’t found a body, though, so who knows.”

Voldemort was dead? This combination of news left the Killjoys around Remus unsure whether to cheer or cry, so they did both. Remus came to notice a dull ache; a hollow sinking, and found himself on his knees. He pushed himself up by his cane, and didn’t think his struggle standing was to do with his leg injury at all.

James and Lily were dead. Harry was missing. The only way Voldemort could have known where to find them was if the Secret Keeper had told him willingly and knowingly. Remus ran back to the Cave, and pulled out the Marauders’ Map. He cursed himself for not thinking of this earlier.

He scanned the map for hours, until he finally forced himself to accept that she was hidden somewhere amongst the mass of names that filled Battery City. Remus got to his feet, hands shaking, and forgot himself.

He had stolen a broom, and he flew as fast as he could manage. He flew nonstop until he reached his destination. He landed at the base of Southend Pier.

From there, he didn’t trust himself to fly or land safely, eyes blurred with tears. So he gripped his wand, and apparated to the end of the pier. The water rose to his knees, and his feet sank into mud. He didn’t care. A pain radiated from his arm, and blood dripped into the water. Splinched. He still didn’t care.

He climbed over the sodden, rotten wood. He climbed and rummaged until he found it: his carving. It was just as it had been that day six years ago. His fingers traced the circles, the place where they overlapped. He pulled up his sleeve to see his tattoo, the one inspired by this very carving. He couldn’t make it out through the blood. Good.

He placed the carving atop a pile of wood, and aimed his wand. He stood there, bleeding and crying, wand held in the air. After a while, his legs gave way, and he sank into the water to his waist. He lowered his wand, and threw his head to the sky, and wept.

He couldn’t bring himself to destroy the carving, a token of a life so much happier than this one, of a time when nothing mattered. He couldn’t do it.

He knelt there until his head became light. He knew that if he didn’t get out soon, he would die here. _Good_ , he thought, _there’s no reason to keep living now._

Two things motivated him to his feet: Harry was still out there somewhere, needing protection, an uncle he could trust, and Sirius was still out there too.


	30. an Act of Selfish Mercy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the back of his head, still he tried to defend her. If the Secret Keeper died, everyone who knew the secret would become Secret Keepers. Perhaps the traitor was someone else, and after killing Sirius they were free to tell Voldemort. Perhaps the charm had been broken; the House of Black still had magic, and now it seemed Voldemort did too – maybe they knew how to break a fidelius charm. His defenses grew increasingly farfetched, and he wished he would stop trying, but he didn’t. He couldn't.
> 
> \--
> 
> Closure, of a sort.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Technically, this is the end of the fic. The next and final chapter is an epilogue, poooooossibly hinting at a sequel but since i havent written one yet its not a promise.

Things were very different after Halloween; without their leader, BL/ind seemed to grow weak. There were rumours of Dracs striking for higher wages, Exterminators defecting to the Zones, and power struggles at the very top. Nobody had seen Voldemort since that night, and most assumed him dead.

There had been other rumours about Harry, who people had now dubbed the Child. Many said that they were being raised by someone in Bat City, hiding them until they day they’d be old enough to destroy BL/ind once and for all. Others said they’d been whisked away by Dr Death’s Killjoys, and was roaming the Zones, going from secure house to secure house. Some people supposed that maybe the Child had to die for the prophecy to come true, and BL/ind would fall any minute. It didn’t.

Remus spent all his time focused entirely on Sirius Black. He pored over the map, and travelled the Zones searching for her. He killed Dracs as she had; masks off first.

In the back of his head, still he tried to defend her. If the Secret Keeper died, everyone who knew the secret would become Secret Keepers. Perhaps the traitor was someone else, and after killing Sirius they were free to tell Voldemort. Perhaps the charm had been broken; the House of Black still had magic, and now it seemed Voldemort did too – maybe they knew how to break a fidelius charm. His defenses grew increasingly farfetched, and he wished he would stop trying, but he didn’t. He couldn't.

The only time he returned to the Burrow was on full moons. He had been able to set up a secure basement deep in the lowest and most remote reaches of the Burrow’s tunnel system, and it was the safest place to transform, close to medical assistance.

One day, after a particularly bad full moon, he sat on a fence on the surface, smoking and waiting for his wounds to heal. He knew he shouldn’t be smoking so soon afterwards, and that he’d be told off if caught by a medic, but he didn’t care. He didn’t care about very much, these days.

He stared out into the zones, and he dropped his cigarette. He had seen something, in the distance. He pushed the hair out of his eyes, shading them with a hand and squinting. The distant figure approached, and there was something awfully familiar in her movements.

Remus jumped down, grinding his cigarette under his shoe. He started walking forwards. Soon, the figure before him became clear. It was Sirius Black, holding an Individual.

His hands fell to his wand and gun, but he drew neither. He kept walking towards her, and she kept walking towards him. She stopped a stone’s throw from him. She looked like shit; there were dark circles under her eyes, and the red in her tied back hair was dulled. Her clothes were crumpled as if she’d been sleeping in them for weeks. Remus saw that there was an earpiece around her left ear. Remus heard the whine of a Fly.

She didn’t speak, she didn’t look at him. She raised her gun. Remus forgot himself. He stepped forward, so it hovered against his forehead. He watched her, daring her to try it. Her hands shook.

She began shaking her head, eyes welling up with tears. The voice in the earpiece screeched loud enough for Remus to hear – Bellatrix. Sirius straightened her gun arm, flinching. “I’m sorry,” she said through her tears, “I’m so so sorry.”

Remus shrugged, not looking at her. Instead, he watched the Fly hover about their heads. He caught it, crushing it in his hand. Bellatrix screamed, so loud that Sirius doubled over, dropping the gun.

Remus picked it up, and pulled Sirius from the ground. He took the earpiece from her ear, threw it to the ground, and stamped on it. The screeching stopped. His ears rang.

He looked at Sirius, and she hugged him. He didn’t hug her, but put her gun back in its holster. He leant around to her ear, and said, “Leave, StarCatcher. And don’t you ever come back.”

  Sirius pulled away, staring at Remus. She shook her head, “Let me-”

  “NO!” Remus shouted, pulling out his wand. He knew that if she tried to explain, he would forgive her, force himself to believe whatever story she made up, and he would have betrayed Lily and James. “LEAVE!”

Sirius stumbled back, shocked. Her hand lifted to her mouth, and she whistled. Her bike came flying, and she climbed onto it. All the while, Remus kept his wand trained to her chest. She sat there, on her bike, with her back to Remus. He could kill her right now, he could avenge them. He didn’t know why he didn’t.

She turned, as if to say something, but only looked at Remus. He turned away, not trusting himself to look at her any longer. She looked so sad. He didn’t look back until the rumble of the motorbike had faded into the distance.

He watched the black dot in the sky shrink into oblivion, and a horrible feeling crawled into the pit of his stomach: regret.

* * *

 

_ “Bad news, Dust Angels. Petrol Pest ran into a clap with our traitor, StarCatcher, got itself ghosted. Along with a street full of poor defenseless Ritalin Rats. That StarCatcher’s a ruthless fucker, and the only thing that’s left of Petrol Pest is a finger. It’ll rest on the Plane of the Dead beside its mother’s helmet. Remember, Killjoys, Petrol Pest may be gone, but out here in the desert, its shadow lives on without it.” _


	31. a New Beginning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She then stood, and stepped over the body to inspect the far wall. It had been blown clean out. She peered over the side, on the ground outside was rubble, but no body. She stepped back, looking around the room, thinking. She didn’t know why Voldemort had come here, but if she had been perhaps younger, or wilder of imagination, she may have supposed the Potters had been harbouring a teleport, or some device of invisibility. There was no sign of the Chief Exterminator anywhere.
> 
> \--
> 
> Epilogue: In which the Potter home is searched first by Voldemort's followers, before the Killjoys.

After the Chief Exterminator had not returned, sisters Bellatrix and Narcissa were sent at dawn to investigate.

They found the door blown from its hinges, and behind it the limp body of the Killjoy that called himself Golden Snitch. A silly name, quite childish. On the legal papers, he was Jaiman Potter. Bellatrix stopped to make sure he was dead, and sent Narcissa upstairs to search.

Narcissa peered into the many rooms of the Potter household at Godric’s Hollow, each as empty as the last. She stopped outside a room with a sign on it, read it aloud, “Harry’s Room.” It was strange that they used the child’s real name, but Narcissa supposed they hadn’t expected prying eyes all the way out here.

She stepped into the room, and was affronted with the sight of a woman slumped across the floor, dead. This must be Lily Evans, who called herself Chemical Wonder. Another silly name. She leant down, and closed Lily’s unseeing eyes.

She then stood, and stepped over the body to inspect the far wall. It had been blown clean out. She peered over the side, on the ground outside was rubble, but no body. She stepped back, looking around the room, thinking. She didn’t know why Voldemort had come here, but if she had been perhaps younger, or wilder of imagination, she may have supposed the Potters had been harbouring a teleport, or some device of invisibility. There was no sign of the Chief Exterminator anywhere.

There was a noise, and she turned. The noise came again, louder. It was a baby’s gurgling. She walked up to the crib that Lily Potter’s body guarded, and peered inside. There sat a baby of perhaps two years old, with its foot in its mouth. Harry Potter.

Harry took after his father greatly, and Narcissa found it funny how he was the perfect opposite of she son she had at home. Where Draco Malfoy was light, with everything about him straight and sharp and thin, Harry was dark, and full of softness, roundness, and fullness. He looked up at her with wide green eyes – his mother’s eyes – and pointed at Lily Potter, “Sleepy?” He asked.

Narcissa never saw any reason to lie to her own son; when his pet fish had died, she told him so. When uncle Regulus had died, she told him so. When he asked about the burn mark on their family tree, above the name ‘Sirius,’ Narcissa told him exactly who Sirius Black was. However, something in young Harry’s gaze softened her demise, and she smiled, nodding. “Yes, Harry, your mummy is sleeping.”

Harry looked at her mother, and reached through the bars of the crib, “Wake up, Mummy.”

Narcissa frowned. Voldemort had killed his parents personally, but how could a baby do any harm now? She picked him up, he was far heavier than Draco, “I’m sorry, Harry, your mummy’s not waking up for a very long time.”

“Oh,” He frowned. Narcissa noticed a curious scar that spread across Harry’s forehead – it was shaped like a bolt of lightning. It was fresh, and Harry’s forehead was sticky with blood.

She clucked her tongue, bouncing Harry up and down on her hip, “We’ll get that all cleaned up, shan’t we?”

Harry stared at her, and she stared back. A baby could do no harm, and she saw no reason he had to die. She would save him from a life in the Zones, and raise him as a proper gentleman. “Come on,” she stepped over Lily, and left the room. She walked from the house, to the black car that had taken them there, leaving Bellatrix inside, “I’m going to look after you, Harry.”

“Appa?” Harry turned around, reaching back into the house. He began to cry, “Appa!”

Narcissa sat down in the car and closed the door, “I’m sorry, Harry.” He looked at her, and she stroked his hair, “Your parents aren’t coming back.”

Something in Harry Potter understood, and he cried the entire drive back to Battery City. Narcissa threatened to throw him out of the car, and Narcissa scolded her. She wrapped her arms around Harry, and rocked him. She would protect him, mother him, raise him. She sat in the back of the car to Malfoy Manor, and she swore this to Harry Potter; the Child; the Boy Who Lived.


End file.
